DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

CHEMICAL DIVISION. 
, TIN No. 3. 



SB 235 

.W67 
no. 3 




THE 



rrofHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY 



A RECORD OP ITS PROGRESS 



DURING THE 



1 ^m^i^ 



SE^SOISrOF 1883. 



H. W. WILEY, 

CHEMIST. 



WASHIi^GTOlSr: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1884. • 



Glass 

Book 4 ^ i 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

CHEMICAL DIVISION. 
BULLETIN No. 8. 



THE 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



A RECORD OF ITS PROGRESS 



DURING THE 



SE^SOlSr OF 1883. 



1 



H. W. WILtey 



CHEMIST. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVEBNMEN.T PRINTINO OFFICE. 
1884. 

16435 N s ^ 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 

Chemical Division, 
Washington, D. (7., April 22, 1884. 
Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith a report on the results of 
my investigations of " The Northern Sugar Industry." 

This report contains the work of this division during the past year on 
sorghum and sugar beets, and such other reliable data on the same sub- 
iects as could be collected from different parts of the country. 

KespectfuUy, 
^ ' H. W. WILEY, 

Chemist. 

Hon. George B. Loring, 

Commissioner. 

3 



THE NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



It has been nearly thirty years since the introduction of the sorghum 
plant into this countr3^ 

Under ordinary conditions this would have been ample time to de- 
termine whether it could be used with success as a sugar -producing 
plant. But unfortunately the methods of investigation which have 
been x^ractised have been disjointed and desultory. 

It is true that a great deal of valuable work has been accomplished. 
Many investigators have employed their time and patience in solving 
some of the many problems which envelop and confuse the question. 

I should feel that I had neglected my duty were I to refuse to these 
able and industrious men due praise for the value and excellence of 
their work. In spite of all this, however, the interesting fact remains 
"that after thirty years of work the total amount of sugar made from 
sorghum cane during the past year was not quite one million pounds." 

The sorghum problem i)resents itself under two distinct heads, viz., 
scientific and economic. 

To the pure scientist the question is only one of constitution and best 
method of determining it. To the pure economist, on the other hand, 
the question is one of finances and the best method of making money 
out of the investment. 

A fair discussion of the subject must embrace both of these points. 
But since the work of my division has been purely experimental, this 
report will deal chiefly with the first. 

The sorghum cane is known in this country under a great variety of 
names, but.botanically these all belong to the same species. 

Among the hundreds of sugar-producing plants only four are prac- 
tically employed for sugar production, viz., the maple, the tropical cane, 
the sugar beet, and sorghum. 

The tropical cane is the richest in sugar of all these. 

The maple and sugar beet are best suited to high temperate latitudes, 
while the sorghum seems destined to claim the middle temperate zone 
for its own peculiar field. 

It has, however, certain varieties, like the Amber, which reach matur- 
ity in a wonderfully short time for a sugar-producing plant. I do not 
doubt but that by wise and (jareful selection the time required for 
ripening may be materially shortened. 

It thus appears that the belt of country suitable to sorghum culture 
may become quite a wide one. It should be remembered, however, that 

5 



6 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



this belt should be bordered by lines of isothermacy and not by paral- 
lels of latitude. 

In discussing the geographical limits of sorghum culture it has been 
usual to say that they are the same as for maize. This is both true and 
false — true in that the early varieties of sorghum will grow as far north 
as our corn, and the late ones as far south ; false in the assumption that 
the mere growing of sorghum is enough to insure success in making 
sugar from it. ^ot only must there be time for growth but also for 
manufacture. The effect of cold weather on sorghum cane may be 
summarized as follows : 

(1.) A frost severe enough to kill the blades of immature cane will 
spoil it for sugar-making. 

(2.) Such a frost on ripe cane will not do it any notable injury. 

(3.) A frost severe enough to congeal the water in the cells of the 
cane will render it unfit for sugar-making immediately on the accession 
of thawing weather. To determine the length of the working season, 
therefore, is to know (1) the time of ripening of the cane, i. e., when the 
seed is hard, and (2) the time when the first severe frost is likely to 
take place. 

I have often seen it stated that Early Amber cane in the North ripened 
its seed in 90 days, and I do not wish to place myself in the attitude of 
doubting these statements. 

They are, however, not in harmony with my own observations. How 
many in latitude above 42° have ever seen whole fields of Amber cane 
with hard seed in 90 days after planting? Single heads, doubtless, 
often, but whole fields seldom. I am inclined to think, then, 100 or 110 
days are more likely to be the proper time for beginning operations at 
the mill. 

It is wrong to take a few extreme instances and make a general law 
from them. Such generalizations always lead to harm and often cause 
the innocent to sufler. I will not try to fix the other limit of the work- 
ing season, i. e., the time of the first freezing of the cells. In the lati- 
tude of Chicago it will probably be found not far from the middle of 
October, taking a series of years into calculation. Thus, I find the 
working season in these latitudes limited to four or six weeks, and this 
is a j)oint which must be taken carefully into consideration. 

In leugth of working season the beet appears to have a great advan- 
tage over sorghum. As is well known, the beet is harvested before any 
freezing weather and put in silos. Here it is kept during the winter 
months, or until it is sent to the mill. If the temperature of the silos 
is kept low enough the beets will retain their sugar until the following 
spring. Beet-sugar factories in Europe sometimes keep running until 
March or April. 

The advantage of keeping the machinery in use for as long a time as 
possible is one which will be keenly appreciated by every manufacturer. 
The cost of a sugar-factory plant is very great. Machinery is injured 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



7 



more by idleness than by use. The shortness of the working season, 
therefore, becomes a difSculty the most serious to the success of the 
sorghum business. 

Is it possible to preserve cane in a silo in the same manner as beets T 
I have tried to answer this question by a simple experiment. On the 
12th of ^^'ovember, 1883, I put one ton of sorghum canes in a pit on the 
grounds of the Department of Agriculture, in Washington. The pit 
was made by digging a shallow ditch. The canes were placed in thm 
and covered with earth. 

Numerous analyses of juices of canes similar to those preserved 
showed sucrose (about) 9 per cent. ; other sugars (about) 3 per cent. 

On the 19th of November a deep-soil thermometer was placed in the 
silo, so that its bulb was in the midst of the canes. This was done to 
compare internal and external temperatures, and detect any tendency 
to " heating" which the canes might show. Daily observations were 
taken of the two thermometers until December 12, on the night of 
which, unfortunately, the instrument was stolen. Following are the 
results of those observations : 

Comparison of intamal and external thermometers in sorghum silo from Nqvemher 19 to 

December 12, inclusive. 

[Time, 10 a. m.] 



Date. 


Internal 
thermometer. 


External 
thermometer. 


Condition of weather. 




oFalir. 


oFahr. 




Nov. 19 


38.5 


41 


Kainy. 


20 


38.5 


56 


Do. 


21 


38.5 


Xot taken. 


Do. 


22 


46 


66 


Very "warm and cloudy. 


23 


52 


65 


Do. 


24 


57 


59 


Cloudy. 


25 


59 


50 


Do. 


26 


58 


48 


Eain. 


27 


57 


42 


Fair. 


28 


54 


43 


Do. 


29 


50 


37.3 


Do. 


30 


47 


42.7 


Do. 


Dec. 1 


47 


39 


Do. 


2 


46.5 


50 


Do. 


3 


46 


35.3 


Do. 


4 


44 


40 


Do. 


5 


43 


48.5 


Do. 


6 


44.5 


44.9 


Do. 


7 


44. 25 


42.2 


Cloudy. 


8 


46 
46 




Do. 


10 


46.5 


Fair. 


11 


46 


43.6 


Do. 


12 


45 


45.9 


Cloudy. 



I think it is highly important that the temperature of the silo should 
not rise above 50° F. 

The week of warm weather beginning on the second day after the 
commencement of the observations brought the temperature of the silo 
to a maximum of 59^ F. ; but this was not reached until three days after 
the maximum of the external thermometer. In all cases the changes of 
temperature iu the silo were gradual as compared with those of the ex- 



8 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 

ternal thermometer. This slowness of change of temperature is es- 
sential to the preservation of the sucrose in the juice. 

On the 14th of January, 1884, the ground being then frozen, the silo 
was opened and a bundle of canes taken out. Following are the results 
of the examination : 

ANALYSIS OF CANE FROM SILO JANUARY 14, 1884. 



Percentage of juice expressed 68. 9 

Specific gravity, 8° B = 1. 057 

Percentage of sucrose 8. 39 

Percentage of other sugars 2. 36 



The next analysis of the cane from the silo was made February 27, 
1884. At this time the winter was practically over, and the results of 
this analysis show that the cane had been kept with a loss of only a 
small portion of its sucrose. 

ANALYSIS OF CA^fE FROM SILO FEBRUARY 27, 1884. 



Percentage of juice expressed 73. 67 

Specific gravity 1. 057 

Percentage of sucrose ^ 7. 00 

Percentage of other sugars 3. 13 



These experiments are interesting in that they show the possibility 
of preserving canes in this way. It is, however, a question of practical 
importance to know if such a method of preservation would be useful 
in preserving cane for manufacturing purposes. This question, how- 
ever, could only be answered by conducting the experiment on a large 
scale in connection with a sugar factory. I shall also try planting some 
of these canes in the spring, and notice the character of the crop which 
grows from them.* 

Since undertaking the above experiment I have learned that sorghum 
is preserved in silos in Japan. Following is a report of Consul-General 
Van Buren on this subject: 

The sugar of Japan is made from that species of the sorghum plant known as the 
Chinese sorghum. It grows luxuriantly in all the southern portions of the Empire 
north of the thirty- sixth degree of north latitude. 

The whole product of the Empire in 1878 was 64,297,380 pounds. Importation in 
1878 was 67,434,805 pounds. For three or four hundred years the processes of granu- 
lating and refining sugars have been known and practised. Sorghum is not grown, 
as Avith us, from the seed, but from cuttings. lu September selected stalks are cut 
and buried in trenches a foot deep. Through the winter from each joint' of the stalks 
sprouts grow. In the spring these joints are cut ofi" and set out in rows 15 to 18 
inches apart, and about the same distance from each other in the rows. The ground 

* The last examination of the siloed cane was made April 1, 1884. Results: 



Weight of cane pressed, kilograms 7. 53 

Per centage (»f juice expressed 73.81 

Specific gravity 1. 05 

Percentage of sucrose 5. 89 

Percentage of other sugars - 3. 72 



The attempt to grow a crop from the joints of the preserved cones proved futile. 
The germs at the joints were dead, and in no case was a growth obtained. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



9 



has previously been thoroughly dug up and iiulverized by a loug-bladed mattock. 
The fertilizers used are ashes, fish, decomposed hay, straw, aud sea-weed, or night 
soil. The plants are thoroughly hoed, hilled, aud irrigated. In October and No- 
vember the leaves are stripped off and the stalks are then cut and the hard outer 
covering is removed, and the remaining portion is then ground between rollers of 
stone or hard wood. The cane juice is then boiled in iron kettles till granulation 
takes place, when it is placed in bags and pressed dry. The expressed sirup is used 
as molasses. Dry uplaud soils are required for the successful growth of the cane, 
and the expenditure of labor and fertilizers is as great, if not greater, than for any 
other crop. Great exertions are being made to promote the increased production of 
sugar, and large orders for apparatus for sugar-making came from districts which 
heretofore have not grown sugar-cane. 

USE OF MACHINERY FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 

It may be asked also, OanDot the machinery be used to refine raw 
sugars and molasses or to make glucose during the part of the year 
when not needed for working the cane crop'?" I think the answer to 
this question must be " No." The refining of sugar is a business of itself. 
The profits of the refiner are not large, and he has to work immense 
quantities of raw sugar in order to make money. He has also to have 
the advantage of the best shipping facilities. Our successful refineries 
are built near water transportation, on the seaboard and at Saint Louis. 
A sorghum factory must be far from the great centers of trade, where 
land and labor are cheap. From these considerations I am certainly of 
the opinion that refining carried on in such localities and without special 
facilities would only result in financial loss to the operator. 

In regard to the manufacture of starch sugar, perhaps I could not do 
better than to refer to the manufacturers of this article themselves. In 
fact, it is a business which is already sadly overdone. The /?^rore which 
attended the first years of its introduction attracted a flood of capital 
which finally washed away all the profits. 

I think it best that the sorghum-sugar manufacturer should under- 
stand perfectly that his business is sufficient unto itself," and that he 
cannot count on any lateral business to help him out which does not 
directly pertain to the sorghum industry. 

1 have thus dwelt somewhat in detail on the season as it affects this 
great problem, because 1 believe that in this one point the sorghum- 
growers have more occasion for careful thought than in any other one 
factor which they will be called on to consider. 

To further illustrate the problem of climate, I present herewith illus- 
trations of the isothermal lines,* including the region about Cape May, 
where the climate appears to be the most favorable to the manufacture 
of sorghum of any of the localities in which that business is now con- 
ducted on a large scale. I select Cape May as a point of comparison 
because in that locality, as illustrated by the experience of the Eio 
Grande factory, the seasons appear favorable both for the growth and 
manufacture of the crop. 

* See isothermal maps at end of report. 



10 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



By taking the isotherm for each mouth next north of Cape May, and 
following it westward, a line will be traced south of which, as far as ther- 
mal conditions are concerned, the cultivation of sorghum for sugar can 
be carried on with reasonable hope of success. Several years of experi- 
ment, however, must be awaited before the geographical limits of success- 
ful sorghum culture can be accurately defined. 

As a further contribution to the climatic literature of this problem, I 
give also a record, taken from the official figures of the Signal Office, of 
the mean temperature for each month, winter excepted, of the years 1880, 
1881, 1882, and 1883, as observed at the principal stations of that office; * 
also, in a separate table, the mean temperature for a series of years at 
Cape May, IS". J. ; Champaign, 111., and Dodge Cit^^, Kans. These are lo- 
calities at or near which sorghum-sugar factories are already in operation. 

Statement showing the mean annual temperature at Cape May, N. J.; Champaign, 111., and 

Dodge City, Kans. 

[Compiled from the records on file at the Signal Office.] 



Station. 


No. of 
years. 


Mean an- 
nual temp. 


Cape May, N. J 


11 




53.6 




2 


51.5 


Dodge City, Kans 


8 


53.3 



In order to hasten the determinations of the climatic conditions af- 
fecting sorghum culture I call attention to my report to you published 
in the annual for 1883: 

EXPERIMENTS IN CULTIVATION.t 

Equally as important as the above is the question, " What parts of the country are 
most favorable to the growth of sugar-producing plants f" 

With the tropical cane this question is already answered ; but with sorghum and 
the sugar-beet it is still undecided. Only systematic experiments, conducted under 
the direction of the Department of Agriculture, can give a satisfactory answer. 

Following are the points which take precedence in the investigation : 

1. Kind of climatic conditions. 

2. Kind of soil. 

3. Kind of fertilizers. 

4. Varieties of cane or beet. 

5. Effect on soil. 

I recommend that you make arrangements with the agricultural college of each 
State, or other reliable institution or citizen, to carry on experiments in the directions 
indicated above. For this purpose it will be necessary for Congress to make an ap- 
propriation of $1,000, or other sufficient amount, to be paid by you to the proper 
authorities of each State or private institution* undertaking the work. 

At first ^periraents should be undertaken with a few kinds of the best approved 
varieties of the beet and cane. Two acres of land will be enough for each State. This 
should be divided into ten plats. Five of these should be planted with sorghum, four 
with beets, and one with Indian corn. The yield of corn will serve as a measure to 

*P.3l et seq. 

t Annual Report Dept. Agr., 1883, page 443. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



11 



determine the productiveness of the soil and character of the season. Analyses (uni- 
formly carried on) should be made of the soil, fertilizers, and products. 

In the fall (or spring following), after the analyses are completed, the whole num- 
ber of plats should be planted in wheat of a kind suitable to the locality. The yield 
of wheat will be a measure of the comparative effects of the different products on the 
fertility of the soil. 

Such a series of experiments carried on under uniform conditions over the whole 
country would do more in five years to determine these great agricultural problems 
than fifty years of spasmodic and disjointed work could accomplish. I have only 
mentioned here the outlines of the future scope of the experiments in sugar culture, 
experiments in which every part of the country will take a part and feel an interest. 
If they become auth »rized by law, it will be easy to systematize and formulate all the 
details of the operations to be carried on. 

IMPROVEMENT OF SEED. 

Much of the success of the beet-sugar industry of Europe has been due to a wise 
selection and improvement of the seed, by which the sugar content of the beet, in 
some instances, has been nearly doubled. There is no reason to doubt that a similar 
improvement (but not, perhaps, to the same extent) could be made in northern cane. 

Such an improvement station could be established at small cost ; but, to be effective, 
must be continued through a series of years. The seed of those canes showing the 
highest sugar content should be planted and the selection continued until a maximum 
of sugar is obtained. If in this way a variety of cane could be produced which would 
give an average result in analysis of only 2 per cent, uncrystallizable sugar and 10 
per cent, of sucrose, it would prove of the greatest value to the country. 

It is easy to see the advantage of an experiment carried on in this 
systematic way and under the same conditions of cultivation and anal- 
ysis. 

Soil and climate, it will be seen, are the only variables, and hence 
their influence could be easily traced. I do not wish to say that one 
year's experience in the manner described would be sufficient to deter- 
mine all the doubtful questions in the sorghum problem. But the ad- 
vantage of this method will be so apparent that there will be no diffi- 
culty in securing its continuance for a number of years. It will be an 
experiment carried on all over the country, in which every State will 
feel an interest and every community secure a benefit. 

In a matter of such national importance, experiments made at Wash- 
ington, at Kio Grande, and at Sterling are not enough. It is necessary 
to place the whole country under investigation that the whole country 
may be benefited. 

When once the parts of the country where climate and soil are most 
favorable to the growth of sorghum have been determined, the second 
great factor of the problem must be considered. This relates to the 
constitution of the plant itself. 

I have asked the botanist of the Department, Dr. George Yasey, to 
give me a brief botanical history of the sorghum plant, which I will in- 
sert here : 

Sorghum vulgare, Persoon. 

This species is now considered by the best botanists to include all the very numer- 
ous varieties which are cultivated as sorghum, sugar cane, broom corn, Dourra corn 



12 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



or Guinea corn. They have been cultivated for unknown ages in China, India, and 
Africa. About 1851 or 1852 it was introduced from China to France, and the seed 
soon afterwards sold by Messrs. Vilmorin & Co., of Paris. About the same time Mr. 
Leonard Wray, a practical sugar planter, on a visit to Kaffirlaud, found the Imphee 
cultivated by the natives, the stalks of which they chewed for the sake of the rich, 
sweet juice. Mr. Wray brought seed of the plant to England, where he had it planted, 
and also in France and Belgium. 

In 1853 Dr. J. Browne obtained some seeds of Messrs. Vilmorin &, Co. for the De- 
partment of Agriculture, and in 1854 a portion of these seeds were distributed by the 
Department for trial. In 1856 Mr. Orange Judd obtained and distributed to sub- 
scribers of the American Agriculturist 25,000 packages of sorghum seed. Thus the 
plant became introduced into various parts of the United States. 

The botanical characters may be briefly given as follows : Flowers in an ample ter- 
minal panicle, loose and spreading, or close and rather compact, erect or nodding. 
The flowers are on the small branches near the extremity. If they are examine 
while young it will be observed that there are two kinds of flowers, one perfect and 
finally producing seed, the other containing only male organs or empty. The male 
or sterile flowers are on short stalks, one or two at the base of each perfect flower, which 
is sessile or without a stalk. At or near maturity the sterile flowers drop ofi', leaving 
still remaining the short stem or stems on which they were borne. The perfect spike- 
let has two outer glumes, tough and leathery, and two smaller, thin, delicate, trans- 
parent inner ones, one of which is two-lobed at the apex, and between the .lobes ex- 
tended into a short, rigid, bent, and twisted awn. The stamens are three, the stig- 
mas plumose. The sterile spikelets are narrower, the outer glumes without the 
leathery texture, nerved longitudinally, the two inner ones thin and delicate, desti- 
tute of the awn, and containing three stamens. 

STRUCTURE OF THE LEAF, STALK, AND SEED OF THE SORGHUM 

PLANT. 

The following figures show the cell structure of the stalks, leaf, and 
seed : 

Fig. 1. — Horizontal section of the stalk, mag^nified 18 diameters. 
Yia. 2. — Cross-section of leaf, magnified 18 diameters. 
Ym. 3. — Section of seed, magnified 18 diameters. 

CELLULOSE. 

The cell walls are composed of cellulose and the tough fibers of the 
outside coatings are of the same material. From a large number of de- 
terminations I have found that the amount of cellulose and insoluble 
matter in the stalks of the sorghum is not far from 11 per cent. This 
amount varies greatly with the character of the cane, and the extremes 
of variation may deviate as much as two per cent, from this mean. 

Fercenfage of cellulose and substances insoluble in ivater in sorghum canes. 





Weight taken. 


Weight of residue. 


Per ceut. of cellulose. 




Grams. 


Grams. 




No.l.. 


50. 00 


5.4.0 


10. 90 


No. 2.. 


50. 00 


5. 370 


10. 74 


No. 3.. 


50. 00 


5. 355 


10. 71 


No. 4.. 


50. 00 


5.420 


10. 84 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 13 

WATER. 

In the cells the sugars of the cane are stored, always, I believe, in a 
state of solution. I know it has been claimed that the sugar in the cells 




Fig. 2. 



is often crystallized. I have never been able to see these crystals, and 
I have never seen any one who has seen them. 



14 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Lately the agricultural experiment station of New Jersey, Bulletin 
Ko. XXX, in explaining the loss of sugar in the bagasse, has said : 

To explain this it is necessary to assume that a considerable portion of the sugar is 
stored in the cane in a solid state, either as pure crystallized sugar or in some com- 
bination easily decomposed or dissolved in water. 

Inasmuch as crystals of sugar, or sugar in a solid state in the stalks, 
have hot been actually seen at the New Jersey station, I am inclined to 
think that it will be necessary to seek some other cause for the anomaly 
mentioned. 

Cane sugar is remarkably soluble in water, and the proportion of sugar 




Fig. 3. 



to water in the stalks would have to be nearly three to one before we 
could look for a crystallization. 

The quantity of water and substances soluble therein at 100° C. in 
the sorghum cane I have determined by a large number of analyses. 
The average per cent, is about 8.9.* 

It is proper to state here that the analyses of the canes on which 
this and the following results are based were made on the variety 
known as Link's Hybrid. These canes pressed in the experimental mill 
yielded 64 per cent, of juice, which gave an average analysis of about 
9.0 per cent, sucrose and 3.0 per cent, other sugars. This is a better 

* For formula to calculate the percentage of water in cane, see Bulletin No. 2, Chem. 
Divkion, p. 5. . ' 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



15 



average analysis than that of 300 tons of amber cane worked earlier 
in the season for sugar. 

I wish it distinctly understood that I do not set up these results as a 
standard by which other varieties of cane grown under other conditions 
are to be judged. I think, however, that they will fairly represent the 
sorghum cane grown and manufactured in the United States during the 
past season. 

i^^aturally when we find a cane richer in sugar than the average just 
given, we would expect to find a diminution in the quantity of water. 
Thus when the percentage of sugar to weigbt of cane rises to 16.09, as 
in one instance in the IS^ew Jersey report already referred to, it is hard 
to see how the percentage of water could be much over 70. 

But in more than a thousand analyses, extending over two seasons 
and embracing canes of several varieties and grown in various parts of 
the country, 1 have never yet found a sample in which the sucrose was 
greatly more than 10 per cent, of the total weight of the cane. In gen- 
eral, therefore, we may conclude that canes when ripe have a content 
of water varying from 72 per cent, for the best varieties to 80 per cent, 
for the poorest. 

OTHER SUGARS. 

The sorghum cane contains sugars which are not sucrose. This is a 
point of great inferiority in sorghum, as compared with the sugar beet, 
regarded as a sucrose-producing plant. These sugars (I speak of them 
in the plural, because there ar at least two of them) are not crystal- 
lizable in the ordinary way. The term glucose has been generally applied 
to them. This term, however, is a general one, and may be applied to 
any sweet substance. 

The chief one of these ''other sugars" present in the cane is one 
which does not in any way affect the plane of polarized light. It is, 
therefore, a sugar unique, and I propose to call it anoptose, a term which 
signifies a sugar without influence on the polarized ray. 

It is probable that in normal ripe sorghum cane sucrose and anop- 
tose are the only sugars present. If, however, the cane is abnormal, 
i. e., injured or frost-bitten, or kept exposed a long time after cutting, 
the sucrose undergoes a transformation. It is converted into invert 
sugar, which, at temperatures below 90° C, has a left-handed rotatory 
power. 

For practical purposes these sugars may be regarded as the same, 
although it is necessary to carefully distinguish them in optical analy- 
sis. 

In nearly 300 tons of Early Amber cane (mean of over 300 analyses) 
the amount of anoptose and iuvertose was 4.09 per cent, in the ex- 
pressed juice. The mean of numerous analyses of the best samples of 
Link's Hybrid canes showed about 3 per cent, of these sugars to the 
total weight of cane. I think that if we take the sorghum crop as 



16 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



it is grown now throughout the country 3.00 per cent, of uncrystalliza- 
ble sugar will not Ije a high figure. My experiments and observations 
show that in general, we cannot count on a better ratio than one of 
anoptose to three of sucrose as an average for the whole country. 

SOLUBLE SOLIDS NOT SUGAR. 

Under this head we must consider the soluble starch and gums, the 
acids, the chlorophyl, the mineral substances, and all else not sugar, 
soluble in water or expressed by the mill with the juice. In every case 
where I have tested a sorghum juice for starch, I have found that body 
present. I have made no attempts to determine its quantity. 

Some varieties of canes have gums besides the starch. J'hese gums 
resemble the hydrocarbons, and are doubtless isomers of starch or 
sugar. They have a strong rotatory power to the right, like starch, and 
the dextriae derived from it by long boiling. 

The starch and dextrine have to be taken into consideration in opti- 
cal analysis. Thus a raw sugar which polarized 93^ on direct reading, 
only calculated 89 per cent, after inversion. Thus an amount of dextro- 
gyratory ihatter not sucrose was present to increase the readings four 
degrees to the right. In meladas, sirujjs, and molasses, on the other 
hand, the first polarization generally gives too low a result, owing to 
presence of invert sugar. 

The free acids vary in amount from .1 to .2 per cent. There is also 
acid present combined with the potash and other bases found in the ash. 
It is probable that a large number of acids will be found in the cane. 
Among those which have already been detected 1 may mention malic 
and aeon i tic. 

The formula of malic acid is H2 ('4 H4 O5, and its calcium salt Ga C4 
H4 O5. 

The formula of aconitic acid is H3 Oe H3 Oe, and its calcium salt Gas 
(Ge H3 06)2. 

It requires nearly 2.5 parts of slaked lime to saturate 1 part of malic 
acid, and a little over 2 parts for 1 part of aconitic acid. In estimating 
the acid of cane juice it is usually determined as malic acid. One liter 
of cane juice having an acidity of .15 per cent, would contain 1.5 grams 
free acid, requiring 4 grams calcium hydrate for its saturation. The 
lime compounds of these organic acids are quite insoluble, and can 
therefore be separated by subsidence or filtration. 

ASH. 

The mineral constituents of the cane are recovered in the ash, but 
not in the form of combination in which they exist in the canes. The 
average amount of ash in the canes is not far from 0.62 per cent. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 17 

Ash in sorghum cane chips. 

Per cent. 

No. 1 6172 

No. 2 6380 

No. 3 5956 

No. 4 6424 

No. 5 . 6568 

No. 6 6300 

No. 7 5772 

No. 8 ■ 6508 

No. 9 5924 

No. 10 6128 



Average 62132 

Compare this with the ash in the sugar beet. 

Ash in sugar beets. 

Beets from Oswego, N. Y. : 

Per cent. ash. 

No. 1 1.022 

No. 2 1.079 

No. 3 1.049 

No. 4 775 

No. 5 862 

No. 6 l.Ool"^' 

No. 7 983 

No. 8 985 

No. 9 1. 099 

No. 10 1.166 

No. 11 897 

No. 12 1.250 



From York, Pa. : 

No. 13 1.317 

No. 14 1. 574 



Average 1. 30 

Horsin-Deon* gives the mean percentage of ash in the beet as 1.131. 

Composition of the ash of the sugar heet.i 

Potash..... 45.87 

Lime 8. 26 

Magnesia , 5.50 

Soda 10.09 

Phosphoric acid 11.'47 

Sulphuric acid . . 2. 75 

Chlorine 4. 59 

Silica 11.47 



100. 00 

From these analyses, it is seen that the sugar beet contains nearly 
twice as much ash as the stalks Of sorghum. 

* Traits Th^orique et Pratique de la Fabrication du sucre, Paris, 1882, page 3. 
+ Horsin-Deon, op. cit., p. 32. 
1G4.35 N fc' 2 



18 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



From analyses given in tlie Agricultnral Eeport for 1880, page 126 
I take the foUowiDg mean composition of the ash : 



Constitnents. 



Pota'^sium as oxide 

Polassium as metaP 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Silica 

Sulpliuric anchydnde (acid) 
Chlorine ' 



1. 


2. 


Mean. 


49. 66 


33. 77 


41. 71 


4. 31 


14. 58 


9.44 


13. 49 


9. 00 


11. 24 


10. 47 


10.28 


10. 37 


8. 97 


2. 93 


5. 95 


5. 55 


11.70 


4.07 


3. 91 


13. 24 


8, 57 



* Combined with chlorine, &c. 

The following analysis represents the composition of the ash of uum- 
erons samples of Link's hybrid cane, cnt into fine chips and carefully 
sampled. After incineration and intimate mixture of all the samples, 
the examination of the ash gave the following data: 

Analysis of borgluim cane ash. 

Per cent. 

SiUca - 19.45 

Potasli K.2O 34.58 

SodaNaaO , 3.02 

Phosplioric acid P2O5 4. 53 

Sulpliuric acid SO3 4. 20 

Lime, CaO 10.16 

Maguesia-, MgO , 13. 07 

Chlorine 21 

Oxide of iron and alumina, &c Trace. 

Undetermined, &c 10.78 



100. 00 



I give also analysis of the ash of Amber cane grown in Italy: 

A six of Amber cant* 



CLEAN CANE. 



Potash 



Per 
33 



Soda .- 2 

Lime 14 

Magnesia „ 7. 

Phosphoric acid 6, 

Sulphuric acid 4, 

Hydrochloric acid 3, 

Carljouic anhydride C 

Soluble silica 0, 

Insoluble silica 7, 

Trace of carbon ^ 

Oxide of iron [ 

Oxide of aluminum. ^ 

Matters not determined 1 



cent. 
,1019 
.0341 
0000 
.2903 
8108 
1886 
1705 
.0347 
8241 
0329 



5121 



100. 0000 



* L' Ambra Primaticcia o Sorgo Zuccheriao del Minnesota. 
Mantova, 1883. P. 110. 



Prof. Giulio Monselise. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



The tiDalysis of the ash, taken with that of the soil, is a good guide 
for the ai)plication of mineral fertilizers. Sorghum, it is seciu, ivs a much 
less rapacious potash and phosphoric acid consumer than the sugar 
beet. 

PERCENTAGE OF BLADES. 

This is a question which often is presented to the manufacturer. Some- 
times he buvs clean canes, and again those which still retain the blades. 
Many experiments have been made to determine this ratio, but the re- 
sults vary so widely and depend on so many different con dtions that a 
generalization is almost impossible. 

When the leaves are all green and covered with dew the percentage 
is naturally greater than when they have been killed by frost and are 
dry. With i)erfectly green leaves their weight will j)robably be 10 per 
cent, that of the topped canes. When they are dry and frost-bitten it 
may not be more than 4 i)er cent. An allowance of 10 per cent, the 
season through, dry and wet, green and dead, will not be far out of the 
way. 

In the l!^ew Jersey Bulletin No. XXX (already quoted) sixteen trials 
gave the highest percentage of blades 9.1 and the lowest 4.6. In four 
trials with the Early Amber cane, grown by the Department, I found 
the percentages of blades 10.5, 11.7, 10.6, and 10.4, respectively. 

IMMEDIATE WORKING. 

In a general discussion of the characteristics of the sorghum cane, 
its tendency to rapid change must not be neglected. It is a false 
economy, a misguided enthusiasm, and a pseudo science that would try 
to conceal from the people the weak points of a great national indus- 
try. This proneness to change is a radical fault of the sorghum as com- 
pared with the sugar beet, and even with the trojucal cane ; and one, 
I fear, which no amount of improvement by culture will ever be able 
to wholly eradicate. I made some experiments during the early part 
of the fall to transport canes from different parts of the country to 
Washington for analysis. The canes were carefully cut. The blades 
and tops were not removed. The cut surfaces were thoroughly covered 
with melted wax. The canes were then wrapped in stiff paper with a 
stick longer than the longest cane, to prevent breaking, and sent by 
express. All those packages which reached me within lour days were 
found to be apparently unchanged. One sample w^hich did not receive 
attention until the fifth day was found to be considerably changed. 
The weather was warm when these shipments took i)lace, which made 
the tendency to change greater. 

Canes prepared as above and keiDt in a cool place could doubtless be 
kept many days without injurious effects, but there is always more or 
less danger of the sugar becoming inverted. The conditions most 
favorable to this inversion are rapid changes of temperature with high 



20 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



maxima. Canes cut and left in the field, exposed to hot September 
suns and cool September nights, will soon have all their sucrose de- 
stroyed. This inversion is doubtless due to a kind of fermentation, 
without any marked vinous or other common character. Canes thus 
changed are still fit for sirup-making, but are worse than useless for 
the production of sugar. 

In silos, as I have already shown, where the changes of temperature 
are moderate and slow, the canes may be kept for.a long time without 
undergoing any serious deterioration. 

It could be reasonably inferred from these facts that sudden tempera- 
ture changes injure the delicate cell structure of the cane and thus by the 
rupture of the cells favor the process of inversion. No histological in- 
vestigations have been made, however, to confirm this supposition. It 
may be that the presence of anoptoseand a trace of invert sugar mixed 
with the sucrose in the cells greatly facilitates this change — a danger 
which the sugar in the beet cells is not subject to. The sorghum is 
much more subject to this inversion change than the tropical cane, as I 
have said. It is not uncommon in the South to have three or four days 
run of cane on hand at the mill; a method of x)rocedure that would be 
attended with disastrous results with sorghum. 

In a sample of Louisiana cane sent to the President and thence to my 
division for analysis, I found nearly 16 per cent, of sucrose and little 
more than 1 per cent, of other sugars. The canes had been cut at least 
two weeks. 



By this expression I mean the proportion of sugar which can be ob- 
tained in a dry crystallized form from the canes. Its amount depends 
on the percentage of juice extracted from the cane, and the ratio of 
sucrose to the other bodies in the juice. 

I will not stop here to consider the question of the expression of the 
juice, a subject which has been discussed in a special rei)ort.* I will as- 
sume for the present, and the assumption will not be far from the truth, 
that the amount of juice expressed will average about one-half the 
weight of the cane. Long experience has shown that each equivalent 
of substance not sugar in the juice prevents a like quantity of sucrose 
from being obtained in a crystalline state. To this we must add another 
result of experience, viz: that about 5 per cent, of the sucrose is lost 
in the process of evaporation. 

Apply these data to a cane yielding a juice containing 10 \)er cent, su- 



ANALYSIS OF LOUISIANA CANES DECEMBER 11. 



Sucrose 

Other sugars 



Per cent. 
... 15.68 
... 1.13 



AVAILABLE SUGAR. 



I* Diffusion applied to Sorghum Cane. Chemical Division, United States Dejiart- 
meut Agriculture. Bulletin No. 2. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDLSTRY. 



21 



cose, 2.75 per cent, other sugars and 2 per cent, solids not sugar. Add- 
ing together the anoptose and non -saccharine solids, get 4.75 per 
ceut. This will prevent au equal quantity of sucrose from crystallizing, 
and there will be left of sucrose 10—4.75=5.25 percent. Deduct the 5 
per cent, lost in evaporation and there is left 4.75 per cent, of sugar 
which can be obtained in marketable form. This is calculated on the 
weight of the juice, and. for the weight of cane must be divided by two. 
The percentage of sugar obtainable, therefore, based on total weight of 
cane worked, is only 2.37 or 46.4 pounds per ton. 

I doubt whether any factory in the country this year working sor- 
ghum cane exceeded that yield on the whole amount of cane worked up. 

In the cane worked at the Department of Agriculture during the past 
season the average analysis of the juices was — 



Sucrose.... .percent.. *8. 84 

Other sugars do 4.00 

Solids, not sugar (a li ttle less thau ) do 2. 00 

Five per cent, loss do 42 

Available sugar do 2. 42 

Yield of juice do 42. 00 

Available sugar per ton pounds.. 20. 30 



This was almost the exact quantity obtained save from 5 acres of 
cane raised in Indiana, which gave over 60 pounds per ton. At Rio 
Grande the percentage of juice extracted was 47f ; the sucrose was 
9.75; other sugars and total solids not given. 

At Champaign,! III., the percentage of juice expressed was 60; per- 
centage of sucrose, 7.78; percentage of other sugars, 4.70; specific 
gravity, 1.0591. 

COEFFICIENT OF PURITY. 

There is another method of expressing the ratio of sucrose to other 
substances present In saccharine juices which is more convenient but 
less accurate than the number expressing available sugar. It is gener- 
ally used in the beet-sugar countries, and for rich juices is near enough 
the percentage of available sugar for practical purposes. 

The " coefficient of purity" is the ratio per cent, of the total sucrose in 
a juice to the total solids. Thus in a juice containing 14 per cent, total 
solids and 10 per cent, sucrose, the figure for purity coefficient is 71.5. 
Really, in this case only 60 per cent, of the sucrose present is available, 
and hence the purity coefficient number is too high for available sugar. 

In a case, however, where the sucrose is only half the total solids 
(which often happens with sorghum juice) the purity coefficient would 
be 50, while the available sugar would be 0! 

During the past season the juices worked for sugar at Washington 

* lu the juices worked for sugar. 

+ Double milling. This uumber is the average of the numbers given by the super- 
intendent. (See letter of Mr. Hughes, p. 60.) 
t See letter from superintendent, p. 62. 



NORTHKKN SUGAR IiNDlJSTRY. 



had an average purity coefficient of about 60. I doubt whether it will 
ever prove [)rotitable to work juices of such a low order for sugar. They 
will make good sirup, but necessarily will yield onl}' a small percentage 
of sugar. In a practical way farmers and manufa^cturers can determine 
the value of their cane juices as follows: The juice, as it comes from 
the mill or dittuser, is allowed to stand for half an hour and cooled to a 
temperature near 15° 0. (60° F.). Its specific gravity is then taken by 
a hydrometer. I would advise always the use of a hydrometer gradu- 
ated with numbers giving the specific gravity directly. If a Baume spin- 
dle is used, the specific gravity can be calculated by the following 
formula: 

Let s=sp. gr., and ry=reading on scale of hydrometer. 
Then.s=Jfl- 

14:4: — (J 

Example: Let the hydrometer reading be 8°. 

Thens=^ A^^ = sp. gr. = 1.0588 

14:4 O 



For Beck's hydrometer the formula is- 

170-g 
400 



For Brix's: 



For Twaddle's 



For Balling's: 



■400— (J 



■=r>+ioo 



100 
200 



^' 200-g 



Having determined the specific gravity the percentage of total sugars 
can be roughly estimated by the appended table. Since the proportion 
of solids, not sugar, to the sugars in sorghum juices may be estimated 
at 1.3:12,* and since these solids in solutiou may be considered for prac- 
tical purposes to have the same specific gravity as the sugars, it is easy 
to calculate from the specific gravity the i)roportion of sugars present. 

For example, a juice shows a specific gravity of 1.059, corresponding 
to a peroeatage of pure sugar of 14.42. Make the proportion — 

12: L3:: 14.42:^ 
.•.^=1.56 

and 14.42-^ 1.56=12.8C=percentage of total sugars present in juice. 

* Fifty-one analyses of fresli juices from more than 300 tons of ripe Amber cane gave 
total solids, 14.00; total sugars, 12.68; solids not sugar, 1.38. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 23 

In the table I will give this approximate calculation for sorghum 
juices aud sirups. 

If the coefficient of purity is desired it uill be necessary to determine 
the percentage of sucrose in the juice, either b^' the polariscope or a 
chemical analysis. 

Table showuig approximate total solids and total sugars in sorghum juices and siru2)S. 



Specific gravity. 


Per cent, solids, 
calculated as pure 
sugar. 


Approximate per 
cent, of total 
sugars. 




1. 0000 




. 00 


. 00 




1. 0035 


. 90 1 


. 89 




1. 0070 


1. 80 i 


1. 60 




1. 0105 


2. 69 1 


2. 39 




1. 01-11 


3. 59 1 


3. 20 




1. 01 77 


4 44 I 


4. 00 




1. 0213 


5. 39 ! 


4. 80 




] . 0249 


6. 29 


5. 50 




3. 0286 


7. 19 


6. 41 




1 . 0323 


8. 09 


7. 21 




1. 0360 


9. 00 


8. 02 




:' 1. 0397 


9. 90 


8. 82 




i. 0435 


1 0. SO 1 


S. 93 




1. 0473 


11. 70 


10. 43 




1. 051 1 


12. 61 


11. 24 




1. 0549 


13. 51 


12. 04 




1. 0568 


14. 42 


12. 85 




1. 0627 


15. 32 


13. 66 




1. 0667 


16. 23 


14. 43 




1. 0706 


17. 14 


15. 28 




1. 0746 


18. 05 


16. 09 




1. 0787 


18. 96 


16. 90 




1. 0827 


19. 87 


17. 61 




1. 0868 


20. 78 


18. 52 




1. 0909 


21. 69 


19. 24 




1. 0951 


22. 60 


20. 15 




1. 0992 


23. 52 


20. 97 




1. lo34 


24. 43 


21. 78 




1. 1077 


25. 35 


22. 60 




1. 1120 


26. 27 


23. 42 




1. 1163 


27! 19 


24. 24 




1. 1206 


28. 10 


25. 05 




L 1250 


29. 03 


25. 88 




1. 1294 


29. 95 


26. 05 




1.1339 


30. 87 


27! 52 




1.1383 


31. 79 


is! 34 




: 1^ 1429 


30 70 


29! 17 




1 i 1474 


33. 65 


30. 00 




' 1. 1520 


34. 58 


30. S3 




1. 1566 


35. 50 


31. 65 




1. 1613 


36. 44 


32. 14 




1. 1660 


37. 37 


33. 32 




! i_ 1707 


38. 30 


34. 15 




1 1755 


39 ''4 


34. 99 




1 1803 


40 17 


35. 91 




1 185"' 


41 11 


36. 65 




1 1 1901 


4"' 05 


37. 49 




1 1 1950 


4'^ 99 


38 '24 




1 '000 


43 94 


39. 17 




1 ^050 




40. 01 




l ". 2101 


45. ^3 


40! {-6 




1.2152 


46. 78 


41. 71 




1. 2203 


47. 73 


42. 55 




1. 2255 


48. 68 


43. 30 




1. 2308 


49. 63 


44. 25 




1. 2361 


50. 59 


45.10 




1. 2414 


51. 55 


45. 96 




1. 2468 


52.51 


46. 82 




1. 2522 


1 53. 47 


47. 67 




1. 2576 


54. 44 


48. 54 




1. 2632 


1 55. 47 


49. 46 




1. 2687 


1 56. 37 


50. 26 




1. 2743 


1 57. 34 


51. 12 




1. 2800 


58. 32 


52. 00 




1. 2857 


1 59. 29 


52. 86 




1.2915 


! 60. 27 


53. 74 




; 1.2973 


i 61. 25 


54. 81 




1 1. 3032 


j 62. 23 


55. 48 




i 1. 3091 


1 63. 22 


1 56. -27 




1.3151 


i 64. 21 


j 57. 25 

1 1 



24 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 

Taile showing approximate total solids and total sugars, ^'C. — Coutiuued. 



Specific gra-yity. 


Per cent, solids, 
calculated as pure 
sugar. 


Approximate per 
cent, of total 
sugars. 


1. 3211 


65. 20 


58. 13 


1. 3272 


66. 19 


59. 01 


1. 3333 


67. 19 


59. 91 


1. 3395 


68. 19 


60. 70 


1. 3458 


69. 19 


61. 69 


1. 3521 


70. 20 


62. 59 


1. 3585 


71. 20 


63. 48 


1. 3649 


72. 22 


64. 39 


1. 3714 


73. 23 


65. 29 


1. 3780 


74. 25 


66 20 


1. 3846 


75. 27 


67. 11 


1. 3913 


76. 29 


67. 92 


1. 3981 


77. 32 


68. 94 


1. 4049 


78. 35 


69. 86 


1. 4118 


79. 39 


70. 78 


1. 4187 


80. 43 


71. 71 


1. 4267 


81.47 


72. 65 


1. 4328 


82. 51 


73. 52 


1. 4400 


83. 56 


74. 50 


1. 4472 


84. 62 


75. 45 


1. 4545 


85. 68 


76. 39 


1. 4619 


86. 74 


77. 34 


1. 4694 


87. 81 


78. 29 


1. 4769 


88. 81 


79. 18 


1. 4845 


89. 96 


80. 21 


1. 4922 


91. 03 


8L 17 


1. 5000 


92. 12 


82. 14 


1. 5079 


93. 21 


83.11 


1. 5158 


94.30 


84. 08 


1.5238 


95. 40 


8.5. 06 


1. 5319 


96. 51 


86. 05 


1. 5401 


97. 62 


87. 04 


1. 5484 


98.73 


88. 03 


1. 5568 


99. 85 


89. 03 



QUANTITY OF SORGHUM SUGAR MADE AT PRINCIPAL FACTORIES IN 
THE UNITED STATES DURING 1883. 

From the data at the office of the division of statistics the produc- 
tion of sorghum sugar during the past season was as follows : 

Pounds. 



Rio GraDde, N. J 282.711 

Champaign, 111 160,000 

Sterling, Kans 136, 000 

Hutchinson, Kans 131, 000 

Ottawa, Kans 7,000 

Department of Agriculture 10, 000 

Total 726,711 



THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY. 

The beet sugar made in the United States during the campaign of 
1883-84 was all manufactured at Alvarado, Oal. The following letter 
of Mr. E. H. Dyer, superintendent of the Standard Sugar Eefinery, Al- 
varado, Gal., will show the character of the work which is doing in Cali- 
fornia with the sugar beet : 

H. W. Wiley, Esq., ' 

Chemist, Departmaul of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. : 
Dear Sir: Yours of r)tli instant received. In answer to your inquiry in regard to 
the amount of sugar made in campaign 1883-84, will state that our whole product 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



25 



lias uot yet been marketed. We only had beets euougb to ruu about ninety days, ovr- 
iug to the unusually dry seasou that prevented the farmers from sowing only about 
one-half the usual acreage. We sent to market, however, 1,027,826 pounds ichite re- 
fined sugar, and probably have in tanks, in process of crystallization, 250,000 pounds 
more. The percentage of sugar obtained was very satisfactory. As this seasou prom- 
ises to be a favorable one, we expect to have from 15,000 to 20,000 tons of beets. Last 
year we only had about 7,000 tons. 

The five years' experience of the Standard Sugar Retinery has fully proven that beets 
raised in California will yield as many tons per acre and are as rich in saccharine mat- 
ter as any produced in Europe. AVith the aid to this industry that its importance 
deserves for a few years, sufficient capital would be invested in the production of beet 
sugar to stop all importation of foreign sugar on the Pacific coast, and supply a large 
portion of that required east of the Rocky Mountains. We have a soil and climate 
well adapted to the production of the sugar beet, extending from California to British 
Columbia. There is room for one hundred factories of a daily capacity of 150 tons 
each ; and with the same encouragement by ouv Government as the manufacturers 
in Europe received in the earlier stages of the industry, they would be built in less 
than 10 years. I will gladly give you any information in regard to the subject that 
I have, fully realizing that the future success of this important industry depends 
greatly, if not wholly, upon the encouragement given it by your Department. I in- 
tend visiting Washington during the session of Congress for the purpose of trying to 
obtain a modification of the internal-revenue laws that will permit alcohol distilled 
from beet molasses. to be used solely for mechanical purposes, to be exempt from tax- 
ation. 

Yours, respectfully, 

E. H. DYER. 

From this letter of Mr. D^^er, it is evident that the manufactiire of 
sugar from the sugar beet is au assured success on the Pacific coast. 
There is a vast region of country in Northern California, Oregon, and 
Washington Territory of which the climate and soil are suitable to this 
plant.* TThen the extent of this region is considered it does not seem 
that Mr. Dyer's views of the fnture are exaggerated. I do not have any 
data of complete analyses of Cahfornia beets. The following data are 
taken from " The Sugar Beet ":t 

(1) Imported Tilmorin beet : 
Density of juice, 26^ Balling. 
Coetficient of purity, 82^.6. 

(2) Early Eed Top beet : 
Density of juice, 23^.2 Balling. 
Coefficient of purity, 82o.5. 

(3) Verbesserte Imperial Rose : 
Density of juice, 20^.5 Balling. 
Coefficient, of purity, 83^. 

The preceding analyses were made by Mr. P. Cassamajor. 

"McMurrrie, Culture of Sugar Beet. U. S. Agricultural Special Report Xo. '^-r. See 
map opposite page 2S. 
tThe Sugar Beet, Vol. 5, Xo. 1. 



26 >RruEKN sugar industry. 



The following analyses were made in California : 



No. 


Varietv ' I^?g^ee, 


Sucrose hy 
polarizatiou. 


Coefficient 
of purity. 


1 

9 

3 


Earlv Rose 19. 5 

Vilnioiin Imperial 20. 5 

Verbesserte Imperial Rose 19 

do : 17 


16. 
16.7 
15.2 
14.4 


82. 05 
81. 46 
80 
80 







The yield per ton of the Californiji beets is most gratifying. 

Seven thonsand tons of beet.^ were worked. The yield per ton on the 
basis of the sugar already marke ed is 147 pounds. Allowing for the 
estimate of Mr. Dyer that 251>,()00 pounds of sugar are yet to be sepa- 
rated, the total yield reaches 18"J [)ounds per ton. 

These figures should prove of the greatest interest to the farmers of 
the Pacific slope, for in then) they should see suggestions of greater 
wealth than is found in their mines. 

SUGAR BEETS FROM OTHER LOCALITIES. 

I have had few opportunities of examining sugar beets, and give 
below the analyses of all that have been sent to the Department. 

The beets analyzed in the following table were raised by Mr. William 
Cartwright, of Oswego, ^. Y. Be planted a space of 4G,708 square feet 
in beets, and the total yield was 36,000 pounds. 



Analyses of beets front Ostvego, y. Y. 



Variety. 


It 

cS 


No. beets 
taken. 


Weights. 


Weight 
with neck 
removed. 


Sucrose. 


Glucose. 


Ash. 


Pu- 
rity. 








Kilograms. 


Kilograms. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Coef. 


Improved, south field, north end. 


1 


5 


2. 838 


Not taken 


12.12 


.29 


1.022 


74.6 




2 


5 


2. 963 


..-.do 


12. 58 


.20 


L 079 


77 


Late-planted, pitted in field 


3 


5 


L 96] 


... do 


IL 22 


.22 


L 049 


7L9 


Improved, soutb field, south end 


4 


5 


2.457 


2. 238 


15. 34 


.17 


0. 775 


83 


Improved, north field, north end 


5 


5 


2. 776 


2. 610 


15. 32 


.16 


0. 862 


• 85 


Improved, north field, south end 


6 


5 


2. 795 


2. 540 


15. 20 


.12 


1.061 


82 


Oswego seed 


7 


5 


2. 902 


2. 532 


14. 52 


.14 


0. 983 


80 


Government seed : 


















Sub. Green Neck 


8 


5 


2. 477 


2. 010 


12. 54 


.14 


0. 985 


74 


Rose Neck 


9 


4 


2. 807 


2. 598 


12. 24 


.31 


1.099 


77 




10 


4 


4. 272 


3. 822 


IL 06 


.82 


1.166 


72 


From Hart s field 


11 


5 


2. 915 


2. 810 


12. 74 


.40 


0. 897 


79 


Late-planted 


12 


6 


2. 020 


2. 020 


12. 64 


.32 


I. 250 


78.5 



SUGAR BEETS SENT BY MR. LEVI MAISH, YORK, PA. 

Beets sent, November 22, IS83. 
Analyzed, December 19, 1883. 

ANALYSES. 



No. 


Variety. 


No. of 
beets. 


Total 
weight. 


Weight 
without 
neck. 


Sucrose. 


Glucose. 


Ash. 


Purity. 


1 


White Silesian 


4 
3 


Kilos. 
2. 924 
2. 892 


Kilos. 
2. 684 
2.610 


Per cent. 
8. 04 
7. 24 


Per cent. 
.40 
.78 


Per cent. 
1. 37 
L 57 


Coef 
64.3 
58 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



27 



By comparing the analyses of these beets with those from Oswego, 
the great superiority of the latter is at once manifest. 

York, Pa., seems to be too far south for successful culture of the 
sugar beet. 

In the attempts which have been made in the United States to estab- 
lish the sugar-beet industr^^, the cause of failure has generally been in- 
ability to obtain sufficient beets. There is little doubt but that quite a 
wide territory can be found in our most northern States in which both 
soil and climate are fav^orable to a development of the beet sugar indus- 
try. The experience of Europe for nearly a century is at our disposal. 
The Department of Agricultur e would do a great work for the jSTorthern 
farmers by determining experimentally the best localities for the culture 
of the sugar beet. 

FURTHER STUDY OF THE SORGHUM INDUSTRY. 

It is readily seen from these figures that the importance of sorghum 
sugar from a commercial view is altogether in its possibilities and not 
in its actual magnitude. The predictions made a few years ago b^' 
many honest enthusiasts, that in five years (the time has already ex- 
pired) our country would make its own sugar, are yet far from being 
fulfilled. 

The fact must be admitted that the present production of sorghum 
^sugar is not a ver}^ encouraging one for thirty years of endeav^or. But 
there is one encouraging aspect of this statement, viz, that nearly all 
the progress in sugar- making has taken place during the past three 
years. A careful study of the results obtained, and which can be re- 
lied upon as exact, during the last few years, will lead to some inter- 
esting deductions. These of course may be modified by subsequent ex- 
perience, but they appear to be justified by the x>resent condition of the 
industry. 

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 

SMALL MILLS. 

The prevalent idea that each farmer will become his own sugar-maker 
I do not hesitate to pronounce erroneous. For nearly thirty years such 
experiments have been carried on by farmers throughout the middle 
and northern parts of the country and yet no permanent success has 
attended them. 

In many cases even the sirups made in this small way are far from 
being palatable. They often contain the acids and other impurities of 
the juice, and have an acrid, unpleasant taste. 

The successful manufacture of sorghum sugar presents greater diffi- 
culties than the working of the sugar beet. In this there is only one 
sugar, viz, sucrose, and its separation is not hindered and even pre- 
vented by large quantities of its uncrystallizable kindred. Three- 
quarters of a century have placed the manufacture of beet sugar on a 
paying basis, but have not brought it to its limits of perfection. 



28 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



The sorghum sugar iudustrj^ in this country is yet in its infancy, and 
it is not strange that its methods are still crude and unsatisfactory. It 
seems that the advocates of the industry have often had more zeal 
than knovvledge, and I have noticed that with increasing experience 
the prophecies of experts have grown less extravagant. If the suc- 
cess of small mills has been almost none, it does not follow that that of 
large ones has been great. But one thing the large factories have 
shown, i. e., that sugar can be made ; how i>rofitably or unprofitably 
cannot yet be said. 

The factories at Rio Grande, N. J., Champaign, 111., Sterling and 
Hutchinson, Kans., have made sugar this year, in all nearly 1,000,000 
pounds. But 1,000,000 })ounds is a smaU contribution to the sugar con- ^ 
sumption of the country, and the time appears still distant when the 
United States will make its own sugar. 

i^ear large factories farmers may make their own sugar by raising a 
few acres of cane and exchanging it at the factory for sugar. Cane that 
will produce 60 pounds sugar to the ton ought to yield the farme 35 
pounds of sugar. The other 25 pounds and the molasses would pay for 
working, and yield, I think, a fair i^rofit. Under these most favorable 
conditions the farmer would get 350 pounds sugar per acre. I do not 
know of any other way in which he can get that much sugar out of an 
acre of sorghum cane. I do not write in this manner to discourage 
efforts to make sugar profitably in a small way, either at present or in 
the future. The small sorghum factories, with their crude sheds and 
mills and often cruder methods of concentration, will continue to dot 
the landscape of the central and northern belt of States, and the prod- 
ucts of these establishments, when made by intelligent direction, will 
continue for many years to be sources of profit to the industrious farmer 
and manufacturer. 

If a method for making sugar profitably on a small scale could be de- 
vised, it would certainly be a great advantage to our farmers. The cost 
of the sugar for a farmer's family is one of the chief expenses of the 
household, and often takes so much of his available cash that he finds 
it dif&cult to raise money to pay his taxes. If large factories are started 
throughout the country, the farmer may find it profitable to cultivate 
cane and sell it to the manufacturer. What price should be paid for 
canes, and how their value should be determined, are questions which 
the ordinary experience of commerce will answer. 

LARGE FACTORIES. 

Only the large establishment can with economy employ the chemist 
and the skilled laborer. It requires as much chemical science and as 
much skilled labor, to work one ton of cane into sugar as it does a thou- 
sand. Moreover, sugar machinery is expensive. The boilers and engines 
must be large and of tlie best quality. The mills and diffusers are heavy 
and costly. Then come the open evaporators, the double and ti ii)le effect 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



and strike vacunm pans, witli their pumps and ai)purtenances. Then 
the sugar wagons and centrifugals are not to be forgotten. If animal 
char is employed, it requires additional and expensive apparatus. 
Counting every expense except the cost of laud, the capital required to 
work 10,000 tons of cane per season will not fall much short of 875,000. 
It may exceed that sum if strong, permanent buildings are erected. 



REVIEW OF THE SORGHUM INDUSTRY DURING 1883. 

EXPERIMENTS MADE BY DEPARTMEN I OF AGRICULTURE. 

(1) Field of cane 7iear Was]iingt07i. 

Following is the report^of Mr. Nesbit, who had charge of the field: 

Department of Agriculture, 

irashingion, Decemher 3, 188-1. 
Dear Sir: Your letter of Noveniber 23 to Hon. Georg • B. Lorinijj, Cornniissioner, 
reqnestiug for insertion in the forthcoming rejiort ou sorghum a report on the folh)w- 
ing items: 

(1) Plowing and preparing ground ; 

(2) Fertilizer employed, when and how applied ; 

(3) Date and method of planting ; 

(4) Cultivation ; 

(5) Other items of interest in connection with the crop ; " 

Having heen referred to me, I take pleasure in furnishing the desired information. 

(1) A contract for the plowing w^as given on the 27th day of March, ref[uiring that 
" the ground shall be plowed to a uniform depth of 5 inches, and a subsoil [dow shall 
be run in each furrow to the uniform depth of 6 inches below the bottom of the fur- 
row." Other stipulations were made requiring the work to be well done, and finished 
before the first day of May. The weather proved exceedingly unfavorable, so" tliat 
much of the time the ground was too wet to be worked, and the plowing was not 
completed until May 18. A drag-harrow, disk-harrow, and clod-crusher were em- 
ployed to reduce the ground to good tilth. 

(2 and 3) The seed "was planted and fertilizer applied with a grain-drill having a 
fertilizer attachment. Two of the eight tubes, 3| feet apart, were used for seed, and 
the same, together with one more on each side of both seed-tubes, six in all, were used 
for the fertilizer. The other tubes were entirely shut off. The planting was begun 
on the 14th of May and finished on the last of May, much rain intervening and pre- 
venting a more rapid prosecution of the work. The fertilizer wa- applied at the rate 
of .500 pounds per acre. An analysis by Mr. Clifford Richardson, assistant chemist, 
showed the following constituents, viz : 

Soluble phosphoric acid per cent.. 6. 55 

Reverted ^ do 3. d5 

Available •. do 10.40 

Total : do 11.82 

Nitrogen . . do 1.79 

Equivalent tc» ammonia do 2. 17 

Commercial value 830.50 

(4) The first cultivation after planting was broadcast with a smoothing harrow. 
After this the sorghum was thinned to a stand of about 12 stalks to a yard by cross- 



30 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



iug the rows with a spriug-tooth cultivator, having a part of the teeth reuioved, 
followed by hand and hoe work. In the after cultivation a sulky cultivator and oue 
or two one-horse cultivators were constantly employed, when the condition of the 
ground would permit, until the middle of Jul}", when the sorghum was too large for 
further cultivation. 

(5) Uuder the head of " other items of interest" a long report might be written, 
which I assume you do not want, being already familiar iu a general way with the 
methods employed in growing and harvesting the sorghum crop for the Department. 
I will only add a short statement iu the way of a general review. 

The land selected by the Commissioner \\as the Patterson farm, about 64 acres, ad- 
joining the city. It is the same land that was cropped with sorghum for the Depart- 
ment in 1881. Last year it was not cultivated. The object in subsoiling was to guard 
against extremes of moisture or drought, and, the season proving an unusually wet 
one, it saved the crop from being washed out on the hilly portions of the field, and 
without it cultivation would ha\ e been impracticable during much of the early part 
of the growing season. The use of a concentrated fertilizer was adopted because it 
was not thought prudent to use raw stable manure so late in the season as would have 
been necessary, and a supply of decomposed manure was not obtainable. If the wet 
season could have been foreseen a considerable part of the ground would have been 
dressed with stable manure, though it is doubtful if better results would have been 
reached than with the fertilizer used. The varieties of cane planted were Early Am- 
ber, for the greater part, and Link's Hybrid, Honduras, Harrison's Red Top, and two 
others, with results not worthy of note. The Early Amber ripened first, the seed on 
the gravelly hill tops being ripe September 1. Honduras came next, and Link's Hy- 
brid and Harrison's Red Top were not fully matured at the end of the season in 
November. 

The quantity of seed returned to the Department — about 1,000 bushels— does not 
represent the entire yield, the depredations of the sparrows and that stolen from the 
field amounting to a considerable per cent, of the crop. 

On the whole the results frotn a farmer's standpoint were satisfactory so far as the 
yield was concerned. 

If you should require other information at my command, it will give me pleasure 
to furnish it. 

Very respectfully, 

D. M. NESBIT, 

Siqyerintendent. 

Prof. H. W. Wiley, 

Chemist. 

WEATHER DATA. 

Equally as important as the foregoing are the meteorological condi- 
tions wliicb prevailed during the season of growth and manufacture. I 
append the following tables from the ofScial records of the Signal Office. 
From these monthly tables the season of 1883 can be compared in mean 
temperatures and i)recipitations with those preceding it. 



NORTHERN SUGAR jNDUSTkY. 
Meteorological suuimarii. 



31 



MAY, 18S3. 
(Station: TTasliingtou, D. C. 



Tempei'ature. 



Date. 



1883. 
May 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 



11 

12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 

Me ns . 



Daily mean ba- 
rometer. 



Inches. 
30. 310 
30. 197 
30. 083 
30. 074 
30. 162 
30. 1.53 
30. 038 

29. 932 

30. 067 
30. 012 
30. 022 
30. 050 
30. 059 
29. 929 

29. 684 

30. 038 
30. 252 
30. 274 
30. Ill 
29. 686 
29. 423 
29. 565 

29. 848 

30. 044 
30. 078 
29. 835 
29. 777 
29. 852 
29. 899 

29. 995 

30. 023 



Dailv mean. 



°F. 
52.1 
5S. 4 
64.3 

70. 
.^3.0 
58.5 
64.2 
74.9 
70.2 

71. 3 
65. 9 
62.4 
61. 
55.2 
59. 5 
59.7 
55.6 
63.4 
63.3 
67.2 
63.8 
51.2 
51. 8 
63.4 
68.4 



71. 9 
70. 3 
70.2 



Maximum. 



°F. 
59. 1 



86.9 
64.0 
69.2 
76.3 
90.2 
86.0 
87.0 
75. 
72.4 
72.0 
59.4 
74. 
69.7 
69. 9 



80.0 
73.0 
58. S 
57.4 
77.6 
82. 8 
81.8 
76.0 
80.7 
84.4 
77. 5 
76. 9 



Minimum. 



OF. 
42.6 
47.3 
48.7 
54.8 

51. 5 
51.0 
46.8 
59.2 
58.0 
53. 1 
58.9 
50.8 

52. 9 
48.4 
55.1 
49.5 
45.0 
44.2 
47.8 
51.1 
58.1 
48.3 
47.3 
48.3 
49.6 
59.8 
59.7 
56.0 
64.1 
59. 9 
63.5 



Daily rainfall. 



Inches. 



0. 53 



0. 59 
0. 16 



99 
0.15 



0. 01 



29. 983 



63.6 



r4.8 



52.6 



0. OSl 



GENERAL ITEMS. 

Mean barometer, 29.983 : highest temperature, 9.2°, date 8th ; lowest temperature. 42.6=, date 1st : 
greatest daily range of temperature, 33.9=, date 10th : least daily range of temperature, 10. 1-, date 23d : 
mean daily range of temperature, 22. P : mean daily dew point, 50.2=: mean daily relative humidity. 
64.9= : prevailing direction of wind XW. : total movement of 3,987 miles : highest velocitv of wind, 22 
miles S. and SW. direction, date 10th and 26th. 

Number of foggy days ■ Xumber of cloudy days 8 

Number of clear days 9 Number of days on which rain fell 9 

Number of fair days 14 | 

COMPARATIVE MEAN TEMPE , MATURE . 



Deg. Fahr. 

1871 63. 9 

1872 67. 4 

1873 63. 6 

1874 63. 8 

1875 63. 6 

1876 64.5 

1877 61.9 



Deg. Fahr. 

1878 62.5 

1879 6.5. 3 

1880 70. 5 

1881 67. 

1882 59.2 

1883 63. 6 



COMPARATIVE PRECIPITATION. 



Inches. 

1871 ^ 3.45 

1872 1. 43 

1873 5. 21 

1874 2. 62 

1875 1. 01 

1876 3. 02 

1877 2. 26 



Inches. 

1878 5. 27 

1879 1. 58 

1880 3. 37 

1881 1. 86 

1882 5.00 

1883 2. 50 



32 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
JUNE LS83. 
[Station ; "Washiugton, D. C] 



Date. 



1883. 
June 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 



10 
11 
12 

13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
2fi 
27 
28 
29 
30 

Means 



Daily mean ba- 
baronieter. 



Inches. 
30. 332 
30. 409 
30. 216 
30. 186 
30.154 
30. 061 
29. 881 
29. 914 
29. 891 
29. 817 
29. 792 
29. 888 

29. 804 
30. 188 

30. 280 
30. 205 
30. 058 
29 939 
29. 792 
29 833 
29. 899 

29. 985 

30. 0:57 
30.014 
29. 917 
29. 917 
29. 874 
29. 956 
29. 853 



Temperature. 



Daily mean. 



Maximum. 



30. 000 



°F. 


°F. 


66. 4 


79. 


65. 9 


75. 


66. 7 


74. 7 


75.4 


87. 1 


81. 


91. 5 


81. 6 


91. 


79. 2 


90. 1 


76. 1 


88. 2 


76. 4 


86. 8 


79. 8 


92. 


75. 6 


86. 2 


76. 9 ■ 


87.4 


76. 8 


86.4 


66. 3 


74. 9 


67! 1 


77! 2 


69. 


80. 


76.4 


88,9 


78.6 


87.8 


80. I 


90.5 


76.9 


87.3 


74.5 


85.6 


75.1 


85.6 


73.9 


85.3 


77.5 


89.0 


73.2 


79.7 


71.7 


79.9 


68.2 


75.8 


74.6 


87.0 


75. 7 


88.2 


74.8 


85. 1 


74.4 


84.8 



Daily rainfall. 



Minimum. 



54. 5 
51. 2 
58.2 
63.5 
67.3 
70.9 
70.0 
68.1 
65.6 
69. 1 
65. 6 
61.0 
67.4 
60.8 
53.4 

55. 1 
63.4 
69.4 
69.1 
68. 5 
67.3 
63.5 
62.4 
62.2 



66.0 
64.2 
66.7 
61.9 



1 Inches. 



.01 
1. 30 

. 13 
1. 00 



01 



.47 
.49 
1. 71 



64.2 



.285 



GE^^ERAL ITEMS. 

Mean barometer, 30.000 ; highest temperature 92°, date 10th ; lowest temperature 51.2°, date 2d ; 
greatest daily range of temperature 26.8°, date 24th; least daily range of temperature 9.8°, date 25th 
and 27th; mean daily range of temperature, 20.6°; mean dailj' dew-points, 62.9°; mean daily relative 
humidity, 70.1° ; prevailing direction of wind, south ; total movements, 2,914 miles ; highest velocity 
of wind and direction, 16 miles, SE. and NW. ; date, 3d and 7th. 



Number of foggy days 

Number of clear days 8 

Number of fair day's 16 



Numher of cloudy days 6 

-Number of days on which rain fell 17 



COMPARATIVE MEAN TEMPEUATUKE. 



Deg. Fahr. 

1871 73.2 

1872 75. 4 

1873 : 75. 1 

1874 77.5 

1875 72.9 

1876 75. 8 

1877 73. 9 



Deg. Fahr 

1878 69. 1 

1879 72.9 

1880 73. 5 

1881 70. 7 

1882 73. 8 

1883 , . 74. 4 



COMPARATIVE PRECIPITATIONS. 



Inches. ; 

1871 • 4.78 ' 1878 

1872 2. 78 1879 

1873 1. 63 1880 

1874 3. 47 1881 

1875 2. 06 1882 

1876 4. 59 1883 

1877 5. 92 , 



Inches. 

6.33 
.. 3.29 
.. 3.52 
.. 5.71 

2.33 
.. 8.55 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 33 

JULY, 1883. 



[Station, "Washington, D. C] 



Date. 


Daily mean ba- 
rometer. 


Temperature. 


Daily rainiall. 


Daily mean. 


Maximum. 


Minimum. 


1883. 


Inches. 


o Tf 


O J" 





Inches. 


July 1 


30. 151 


oa. 1 


an o 
isu. y 


0^. 




2 


30. 035 


81. 1 


94 1 


65. 3 




3 


30. 087 


84 3 


95 


72 2 




4 


30. 120 


OO. / 


QA ft 


'7A a 




5 


30. Ill 


80. 3 


92. 8 


72 5 


. 27 


6 


30. 066 


84. 6 


95. 8 


72 1 




7 


29. 912 


84. 9 


97. 1 


73 8 




8 


29. 859 


7Q 7 

IS). 1 


QA n 

tJi. u 


R7 fi 


.24 


9 


30. 025 


68. 1 


72. 2 


65. 5 




10 


30. 046 


72. 3 


82. 9 


63 2 




11 


29. 991 


77. 6 


87. 6 


62. 2 




12 


29. 843 


73. 8 


89 


70 4 


,64 


13 


29.811 


76. 


89. 6 


66 9 


. 10 


14 


29. 905 


77. 1 


86 9 


65. 7 




15 


29. 867 


79. 1 


88 


71 4 


.79 


16 


29. 980 


8o!6 


92! 6 


68! 1 





17 


29. 996 


79.4 


90. 5 


72.8 


. 95 


18 


30. 153 


74.3 


82.4 


66.2 




. 19 


30. 171 


71.9 


82.3 


62.6 




20 


30. 213 


70.8 


80.0 


61.9 




21 


30. 204 


77.2 


88.5 


63.9 


01 


22 


30. 126 


84.1 


96.5 


72.9 




23 


29. 990 


84.5 


95.9 


77.7 




24 


29. 785 


77.5 


90.6 


67.8 


1. 00 


25 


29. 941 


70.4 


78.4 


64.9 





26 


30. 084 


72.8 


85.9 


62.4 


.27 


27 


30. 152 


77.4 


88.1 


65.6 




28 


30. 004 


71.6 


81.5 


65.2 


.46 


29 


30. 022 


70.6 


79.8 


63.0 




30 


30. 095 


71. 2 


81.0 


62.0 




31 


30. 085 


72.9 


85.5 


61.9 





Means 


30. 027 


76.8 


87.7 


67.2 


.153 



GENERAL ITEMS. 



Mean barometer, 30.027 ; hishest temperature, 97.1°. date^ 7th; lowest temperature, 61.9°, date, 20th and 
3l3t; greatest daily range of temperature, 28.8°, date, 2d; least daily ranjie of temperature, 6.7°, date 
9th ; mean daily range of temperature, 20. .5°; mean daily dew-point, 64.8° ; mean daily relative humidity, 
68.9° ; prevailing direction of wind, south ; total movement of, 2,756 miles ; highest velocity of wind 
and direction, 16 miles NVT. and SW., 5th and Tith. 



Number of foggy days Number of cloudy days 4 

Number of clear days 11 ; Number of days on which rain fell 12 

Number of fair days 16 j 



COMPARATIVE MEAN TEMPERATURE. 



Deg. Fahr. i 

1871 74.0 : 1878 

1872 81.1 : 1879 

1873 79.8 i 1880 

1874 78. 9 i 1881 

1875 77.0 ! 1882 

1876 81.4 i 1883 

1877 77.8 I 



Deg. Fahr. 

80.2 

78.6 

76.7 

77.4 

76.0 

76.8 



COMPARATIVE PKECIPITATIOXS. 



1871 


Inches. 

6.10 


1878 


Inches. 

8.37 


1872 


0.82 


1879 


3.36 


1873 


4.30 


1880 


2.25 


1874 


2.34 


1881 


... L67 


1875 


3.05 


1882... 


4.46 


1876 


5.12 


1 


4.73 


1877 







16435 N s 3 



34 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



AUGUST. 1883 
[Station, "Washington, D. C.J 



Date. 


JJaily mean ba- 

PniYl At AT* 


Daily mean. 


Temperature. 

ATa VI Tn n tn 

1 11 J 11 111 . 


ju-xmiii tiiii. 


Daily rainfall. 


1883. 


Inches. 


Y. 


° F. 


Y, 


Inches. 


Aug. 1 


30. 016 


76. 5 


87. 5 


61. 6 




2 


29. 794 


78. 3 


88. 7 


71. 6 


. 03 


3 ^ 


\ 29. 892 


74. 9 


83. 9 


67. 




4 


30. 091 


69. 7 


80. 9 


58. 8 




5 


30. 158 


73. 3 


82. 6 


61. 2 




6 


30. 200 


69. 4 


80. 3 


61. 9 




7 


30. 207 


69. 4 


81. 4 


58. 




8 


30. 156 


70. 6 


82. 


56. 7 





9 


30. 110 


69. 9 


81. 2 


58 9 




10 


30. 086 


69. 4 


78. 9 


60. 2 




11 


30. 045 


70. 1 


80. 5 


58. 6 


""" 


12 


30. 001 


72, 3 


85. 3 


58. 




13 


30. 019 


77. 7 


91. 2 


64. 8 




14 


30. 198 


72. 9 


78. 8 


69. 1 


. 01 


15 


30. 215 


62. 8 


71. 6 


60. 9 


1. 04 


16 


30. 060 


63. 1 


66. 1 


61. 


. 38 


17 


30. 131 


69. 9 


79. 


57. 5 




18 


30, 085 


78. 2 


90. 2 


66. 7 




19 


30. 015 


79. 


91. 2 


69. 5 




20 


29. 957 


82.3 


93.6 


68.3 




21 


30. 053 


80.3 


89.9 


72.3 




22 


30. 077 


78.3 


92.0 


65.4 




23 


29. 961 


79 6 


92. 3 


68. 1 


1. 34 


24 


30; 016 


74^5 


82! 2 


69! 1 




25 


30. 082 


71.0 


83.0 


59.7 




26 


30. 101 


69.8 


83. u 


60.4 




27 


30. 226 


67.8 


75.7 


62.2 




28 


30. 047 


67.9 


78.0 


58.2 




29 


29. 894 


67.0 


73.7 


62.6 




30 


30. 070 


63 1 


71.7 


58.7 


.50 


31 


30. 204 


66.8 


79.0 


55.4 




Means. .... 


30. 070 


72.1 


82.4 


62.7 


.106 



GENERAL ITEMS. 



Mean barometer. 30,070; highest temperature, 93.6°, date, 20th ; lowest temperature, 55,4°, date, 31at; 
greatest daily range of temperature, 27.3°, date, 2d ; least daily range of temperature, 5.1°, date, 16th; 
mean daily range of temperature, 19.8°; mean daily dew-point, 59.6°; mean daily relative humidity, 
67.9° ; prevailing direction of wind, north ; total movement of 2,497 miles ; highest velocity of wind aiid 
direction, 13 miles JfW., date 23d. 



Number of foggy days I Number of cloudy days 4 

Number of clear days 13 Number of days on which rain fell 10 

Number of fair days 14 | 



COMPARATIVE MEAX TEMPERATURE. 



Deg. Eahr. 

1871 76. 8 

1872 79. 

1873 74.8 

1874 71.6 

1875 71.9 

1876 75.5 

1877 76.3 



I Deg. Fahr. 

1878 75.0 

1879 .73.9 

1880 74.9 

1881 76.5 

1882 73.9 

1883 72. 1 



COMPARATIVE PRECIPITATIONS. 



Inches, 

1871 1-59 

1872 5. 72 

187:{ • 6. 83 

1874 17.10 

1875 12.93 

187<i 4.17 

1877 2.74 



Inches. 

1878 8.89 

1879 7.36 

1880 3.83 

1881 1. 07 

1882 4.44 

1883 3. 30 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 35 
SEPTEMBER, 1883. 



[Station, Washington, D. C] 



Date. 


JJaiiy mean ba- 
rometer. 


Temperature. 


Daily rainfall. 


Daily mean. 


Maximum. 


Minimum. 


1883. 


Inches. 


°F. 


°F. 




Inches. 


Sept. 1 


30. 198 


67.9 


81.1 


56.2 




2 


30. 030 


66.5 


71.4 


57.1 


.06 


a 


30. 095 


69.7 


78.3 


61.0 




4 


30. 113 


67.8 


79.0 


53.3 




5 


30. 121 


66.5 


76.1 


57.7 




6 


30. 183 


61.4 


76.0 


47.6 




7 


30. 013 


65.4 


79.2 


48.7 




8 


30. Oil 


68.0 


84.7 


57.3 




9 


30. 354 


56.6 


66.0 


50.8 




10 


30. 378 


54.5 


64.5 


43.6 




11 


30. 170 


57.8 


60.5 


52.1 


.14 


12 


29. 925 


60.6 


62.9 


55. 1 


1. 84 


13 


30. 052 


69.3 


78.4 


60.6 


.04 


14 


30. 145 


72.3 


81.9 


62.4 




15 


30. 143 


74.0 


85.2 


64.5 




16 


30. 002 


74. 3 


85. 7 


62 5 




17 


29. 922 


72! 3 


87! 


67! 


.22 


18 


30. 204 


61.7 




58.6 


.03 


19 


30. 289 


63. 1 


70. 8 


58. 




20 


30. 091 


64.6 


75.0 


58.2 




21 


29. 994 


65.2 


77.8 


52.4 




22 


30. 173 


62.7 


66.0 


59.7 




23 


30! 117 


62.5 


68.4 


56.4 




24 


29. 747 


63.0 


67.9 


59.2 


1. 98 


25 


29. 859 


62.0 


72.4 


50.8 




26 


30. 189 


55.0 


65.6 


48.5 




27 


30. 125 


64.2 


73.9 


49.4 




28 


30. 081 


68.9 


82.3 


59.9 




29 


30. 116 


64.4 


72.9 


55.2 




30 


29. 880 


70.8 


83.3 


61.5 


.02 


Means 


30. 091 


65.1 


74.8 


56.2 


0. 144 



GENERAL ITEMS. 



f^Mean barometer, 30.091 ; highest temperature, 87.0o, dat«, 17th ; lowest temperature, 43.6°, date, 
10th ; greatest daily range of temperature, 30.5°, date 7th ; least daily range of temperature, 6.3°. 22d ; 
range of temperature, 18.5° ; mean daily dew-point, 55 9° ; mean daily relative humidity, 74.3° ; prevail- 
mean daily ing direction of wind, northeast ; total movement of, 2.950 miles ; highest velocity of wind 
a nd direction, 17, N. E., date 12th. 



Number of foggy days 

Number of clear days 10 

Number of fair days 11 



Number of cloudy days 

Number of days on which rain fell. 



COMPARATIVE MEAN TEMPERATURE. 



Deg. Fahr. 

1871..-.. 62.3 

1872 69. 

1873 68. 

1874 70. 1 

1875 64. 6 

1876 65. 2 

1877 66. 9 



Deg. Fahr. 

1878 68. 9 

1879 64. 4 

1880 67.9 

1881 77. 

1882 69. 1 

1883 65. 1 



COMPARATIVE PRECIPITATIONS. 



Inches. 

1871 2. 70 

1872 ... 3.92 

1873 3. 48 

1874 7. 84 

1875 1. 98 

1876 10.81 

1877 4. 93 



Inches. 

1878 2.46" 

1879 1. 56 

1880 3. 42 

1881 2. 19 

1882 7. 84 

1883 7. 33 



36 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



OCTOBEK, 1883. 
[Station, Washington, D. C] 



X)ati6. 


Daily mean ba- 
rometer. 


Daily mean. 


Temperature. 
Maximum. 


Minimum. 


Daily rainiaU. 


1883. 


Inches. 


°F. 


°F. 


^F. 


Inches. 


Oct. 1 


29. 959 


58.7 


66. 


53. 6 




2 


29. 729 


63.0 


73. 2 


56. 5 


"0.77 


3 


80. 124 


59.4 


69. 4 


50. 7 




4 


30. 350 


51.9 


60. 


45. 




5 


30. 370 
30. 289 


51.1 


57. 1 


45.4 


• ! 


6 


54.1 


56.1 


50. 1 


. U 


t 




54. 4 


56 7 


52 1 


. UO 


8 


30. 331 


55! 6 


65! 1 


49. 6 





9 


30. 293 


57.3 


72.5 


44. 2 




10 


30. 176 


60.4 


77.4 


47. 1 




11 


30. 131 


66.5 


80. 


49. 5 




12 


30. 116 


68.4 


71. 3 


64. 4 


. 16 1 


13 


29. 989 


73.3 


81. 


66. 3 


. 10 


14 


30. 023 


74.3 


84. 


66. 5 


.02 


15 


30. 414 


50.9 


68.0 


42. 7 




16 


30. 602 


44.4 


53. 


37. 5 




17 


30. 599 


48 4 


55. 7 


36. 2 




18 


30. 475 


52 7 


69. 5 


41. 


1 


19 


30. 286 


62.3 


70.8 


54.3 




20 


30. 184 


61. 8 


71. 9 


52. 4 


. 20 ; 


21 


30. 313 


45.5 


53.2 


41.8 


.37 


22 


30. 315 


49.2 


51.2 


45.0 


.01 


23 


30. 257 


45.6 


49.7 


43.2 


.50 


24 


30. 173 


50.8 


60.1 


42.8 




25 


30. 083 


52.8 


61.9 


41.8 




26 


30. 045 


53.4 


60.6 


48.1 


i 


27 


30. 137 


54.0 


61.3 


46.6 




28 


30. 108 


59.2 


66.3 


50.6 


.01 


29 


29. 681 


65.5 


73.0 


58.5 


.35 


30 


29. 892 


61.5 


71.2 


55.5 




31 


29.954 


58.8 


73.7 


48.9 




Means .... 


30. 184 


56.9 


65. 5 


49.3 


.085 



GENERAL ITEMS. 



Mean barometer, 30.184; highest temperature, 84°, date, 14th ; lowest tenperature, 36.2°, date 17th; 
greatest daily range of temperature, 30.5°, dateUth; least daily range of temperature, 4.6°, 7th; 
mean daily range of temperature, 16.2° ; mean daily dew-point, 49° ; mean daily relative humidity. Ti° ; 
prevailing direction of wind, north; total movement of 3,088 miles; highestvelocity of wind and direc- 
tion, 27,'N.W. 

Number of foggy days 1 Number of cloudy days 15 

Number of clear days 4 Number of days on which rain fell 16 

is umber of fair days 12 1 



COMPAKATIVE MEAN TEMPEKATURE. 



Deg. Fahr. 

1871 58.1 

1872 65.5 

1873 54.9 

1874 55.9 

1875 53.6 

1876 50.7 

1877 58.6 



Deg. Fahr. 

1878 57.0 

1879 62.0 

1880 54.9 

1881 62.9 

1882 60.9 

1883 56. 9 



COMPAEATIVE PRECIPITATIONS. 



Inches. I Inches. 

1871 1. 50 I 1878 5. 86 

1872'"" 4.83 1879 0.79 

1873 5. 62 ! 1880 2. 31 

i874 0. 29 i 1881 3. 29 

1875 1.86 ! 1882 0.53 

1876 2.99 1883 ...2.63 

1877 6.50 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 37 



NOVEMBER, 1883. 
[Station, "Wasliingtoii, D. C] 



Date. 




Daily^ mean. 


Temperature. 
J^aximixm . 


IVf iTTiTirm m 


Daily rainfall. 


1883. 


Inches. 




°F. 




Inches. 


Nov. 1 


30. 081 


43. 9 


52. 8 


40. 3 




2 


30. 199 


43. 4 


47. 8 


38. 1 




3 


30. 292 


45. 2 


53. 2 


34. 8 




4 


30. 271 


5.3. 


67. 


42. 3 




5 


30. 310 


53. 


66. 9 


37. 4 




6 


30 072 


56. 6 


63. 1 


50. 1 


. 10 


7 


30. 181 


50. 3 


67. 9 


45; 1 





8 


OA f\no 

oO 07o 


52. 5 


60. 1 


40. 7 


. 05 


9 




59. 4 


64. 2 


54. 7 


. 15 


10 


on 007 


61. 


72. 


55. 8 


. 08 


11 


on noo 
J9. 9oo 


56. 4 


58. 3 


55. 1 


. 21 


12 


30. 143 


37. 4 


56. 2 


32. 8 




13 


OA AOn 

oO. 0^0 


41. 7 


49. 8 


30. 1 




14 


.30. 056 


38. 


50. 1 


29. 3 




15 


30. 218 


31. 9 


40. 8 


21. 8 




16 


30. 582 


25.8 


33. 1 


20.8 




17 


30. 541 


32. 4 


41. 8 


20. 8 




18 


30. 375 


36. 6 


52. 


22. 1 




19 


30. 369 


42. 1 


58.3 


27.1 




20 


30. 337 


49.8 


59.7 


34.1 




21 


30. 184 


60. ] 


65.5 


52.1 




22 


30. 054 


65. 8 


71. 9 


59. 6 


. 01 


23 


30. 062 


63.5 


67! 2 


60!l 


."22 


24 


30. 217 


57.9 


64.4 


55.1 


.02 


25 


30. 379 


48.9 


.55.4 


47.9 




. 26 


30. 177 


48.6 


51.0 


45.6 


.35 


27 
28 


30. 455 


39.2 


49.0 


34.6 




30. 444 


40.0 


50.0 


29.3 




29 


30. 406 


37.2 


43.9 


29.8 




30 


29. 999 


43.8 


53.4 


35.1 




Means 


30. 208 


49.2 


58.6 


41.3 


0. 04 



GENERAL ITEMS. 



Mean barometer, 30.208; highest temperature, 72.0°, date iOth ; lowest temperature, 20.8°, date 16th 
and 17th; greatest daily range of temperature, 31.2°, date 19tli; least daily range of temperature, 3.2°, 
date lltb ; mean daily range of temperature, 17.4° ; mean daily dew-point, 39.5° ; mean relative humid- 
ity, 73.8° ; prevailing direction of wind, south ; total movement of 3,179 miles ; highest velocity of wind, 
and direction, 23 N. W., 12th and 14th. 



Number of foggy days j Number of cloudy days 10 

Number of clear days 12 Number of days on which rain fell 12 

Number of fair days 8 [ 



COMPARATIVE MEAN TEMPERATURE. 



Deg. Fahr. 

1871 42.3 

1872 42.5 

1873 40.8 

1874 44.6 

1875 '. 41.0 

1876 45.2 

1877 46.2 



Deg. Fahr. 

1878 45. 4 

1879 45. 6 

1880 40. 2 

1881 47. 5 

1882 42.9 

1883 49. 2 



COMPARATIVE PRECIPITATIONS. 



Inches. 

1871 4.85 

1872 2.75 

1873...., 3.02 

1874 2.08 

1875 3.95 

1876 2.83 

1877 7.18 



Inches. 

1878 3. 03 

1879 1. 10 

1880. 2.48 

1881 2.45 

1882 1. 33 

1883 1.19 



38 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



COMPARISON OF TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION FOR MAY, 1883, 
WITH THOSE OF THE TWELVE PRECEDINO MAYS. 

oFahr. 

Mean temperature for May, 1883 63. 6 

Mean temperature for twelve preceding Mays 64. 4 

Seven of the twelve preceding Mays had a higher mean tempera- 
ture, viz, 66.0° F. Three of them had a lower mean temperature, viz, 
61.2° F. Two of them had the same mean lower temperature, viz, 
63.60 F. 

Inches. 

Precipitation for May, 1883 , 2.5 

Mean precipitation for twelve preceding Mays 2. 44 

Seven of the twelve preceding Mays had a greater mean rainfall, viz, 
3.02 inches. Five of them had a less mean rainfall, viz, 1.62 inches. 

oFaiir. 

Mean temperature for June, 1883 74. 4 

Mean temperature for twelve preceding Junes . 73. 6 

Four of the twelve preceding Junes had a higher mean temperature, 
viz, 75.90 p. Eight of them had a lower mean temperature, viz, 72.5^ F. 

Inches. 

Precipitation for June, 1883 : 8. 55 

Mean precipitation for twelve preceding Junes 3. 86 

ISTot one of the twelve preceding Junes had a greater rainfall. 

oFahr. 

Mean temperature for July, 1883 76. 8 

Mean temperature for twelve preceding Julys 78. 1 

Nine of the twelve preceding Julys had a higher mean temperature, 
viz, 79.10 Three of them had a lower mean temperature, viz, 75.5° F. 

Inches . 

Precipitation for July, 1883 . . . : 4. 73 

Mean precipitation for twelve preceding Julys 4. 03 

Four of the twelve preceding Julys had a greater mean rainfall, viz, 
6.52 inches. Eight of them had a less mean rainfal , viz, 4.02 inches. 

oFahr. 

Mean temperature for August, 1883 72. 1 

Mean temperature for twelve preceding Augusts 75. 

Ten of the twelve preceding Augusts had a higher mean temperature, 
viz, 75.6° F. Two of them had a lower mean temj)erature, viz, 71°. 7 F. 

Inches. 

Precipitation for August, 1883 3. 30 

Mean precipitation for twelve preceding Augusts 5. 16 

Eight of the twelve i^receding Augusts had a greater mean rainfall, 
viz, 6.52 inches. Four of them had a less mean rainfall, viz, 1.77 inches. 

oFahr. 

Mean temperature for September, 1883 65. 1 

Mean temperature for twelve preceding Septembers 68. 2 

Nine of the twelve preceding Septembers had a higher mean tempera- 
ture, viz, 69.9^ F. Three of them had a lower mean temperature, viz, 
63.70 F. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 39 

Inches. 

Precipitation for September, 1883 4. 33 

Mean precipitation for twelve preceding Septembers 4. 31 

Four of the twelve preceding Septembers had a greater mean rainfall, 
viz, 7.85 inches. Eight of them had a less mean rainfall, viz, 2.58 inches. 

Mean temperature for October, 1883 56. 9 

Mean temperature for twelve preceding Octobers 57. 9 



Seven of the twelve preceding Octobers had a higher mean tempera- 
ture, viz, 60.7° F. Five of them had a lower mean temperature, viz, 



540 F. 

Inches. 

Precipitation for October, 1883 2.63 

Mean precipitation for twelve preceding Octobers 3. 03 

Six of the twelve preceding Octobers had a greater mean rainfall, viz, 
4.84 inches. Six of them had a less mean rainfall, viz, 1.21 inches. 

° Fahr. 

Mean temperature for November, 1883 49.2 

Mean temperature for twelve preceding Novembers 43. 6 

'Not one of the twelve preceding ^fovembers had a higher mean tem- 
perature. 

Inches. 

Precipitation for November, 1883 1. 19 

Mean precipitation for twelve preceding Novembers 3. 18 



Eleven of the twelve preceding Novembers had a greater mean rain- 
fall, viz, 3.26 inches. One of them had a less mean rainfall, viz, 1.10 
inches. 

On September 10 I found the greater number of seed heads of the 
Early Amber cane ripe and the seed quite hard. A few of these canes 
were cut, the juice expressed and analyzed. The result of the analysis 
showed a percentage of 9.17 sucrose, and 4.83 of other sugars. 

In spite of this discouraging outlook, I determined to begin opera- 
tions at the mill, in order that the experimental season might be as long 
as possible. A few tons of cane were brought in on the 11th of Sep- 
tember, and on the morning of the 12th I began milling. 

IVIETHOD OF OPERATIONS. 

In order that the analyses might represent the average composition 
of the canes, the samples of juice were taken directly from the receiv- 
ing tank when it was full. I was convinced that however interesting 
' and valuable from a scientific point of view the analyses of selected 
canes might be, yet they would never give to the farmer and manufact- 
urer data upon which it would be safe to base the results of large field 
and mill operations. I therefore considered it to be of first importance 
that the analytical work should represent precisely the character of the 
operations taking place at the mill. 



40 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



WEIGHT OF CANE. 

The canes unstripped were brought from the field after the seed heads y 
with a part of the stalk averaging about 12 inches in length, had been 
cut off. 

WEIGHT OF JUICE. 

The defecating tanks receiving the juice were two in number. In all. 
sixty defecations were made in the large tank and five in the small one. 

The avei?age quantity of juice received in large tank was 548 gallons, 
which multiplied by 60=32,880 gallons. The average quantity of juice 
received in small tank was 301 gallons, which multiplied by 5 = 1,505 
gallons. In addition to this must be reckoned juice used for fermenta- 
tion and other experiments, which may be estimated at 1,000 gallons. 
The total number of gallons of juice expressed, therefore, from the Early 
Amber cane is 35,385. The average specific gravity of this mill juice 
was 1.06, and the w^eight of one gallon 8.84 pounds. 

The total weight of juice expressed was 35,385 x 8.84=312,803 pounds. 

The percentage of juice to gross weight of cane was 41.9. The per- 
centage of juice to net weight of cane was 312,803-^671,715=46.60. 

A POOR YIELD. 

The yield of juice was remarkably poor. This was due to two causes, 
viz : (1) The cane was crooked, broken, and tangled, so that it was al- 
most impossible to get an even feed j and (2) the mill, built on the 
model of mills designed for tropical cane, was not suited to grinding 
the weak and yielding stalks of sorghum. 

The mill was constantly choking, the canes, after passing the first 
rolls, becoming tangled in the "knife" and forming into a wad that 
would not pass the second rolls. 

In order to make the mill work it became necessary to loosen the third 
roll somewhat, and this allowed the canes to pass without sufficient 
pressure. 

WEIGHT OF BAGASSE. 

A few experiments were made to defcermine the percentage of juice 
expressed by weighing the bagasse. 

On September 14, 6,700 pounds cane gave 2,730 pounds of bagasse 
and 3,970 pounds of juice = 59.2 per cent. 

On September 27, after the rolls had been opened to allow more rapid 
work, 3,420 pounds cane gave 1,660 pounds of juice=47.9 per cent. 

On October 1,2,160 pounds cane gave 970 pounds juice = 40.3 per cent. 

On October 3, 2,360 pounds cane gave 1,200 pounds juice=5().8 per cent. 

On October 5, 2,020 pounds cane gave 940 pounds juice=46.5 per 
cent. 

Since all the juice exjiressed was measured, I did not think it neces- 
sary to continue these weights. Those that are given, however, only 
give additional emphasis to the results obtained by measuring the juice. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



41 



AVERAaE YIELD OF SINGLE MILLING. 

With a three-roll mill, especially adapted to working sorghum, I think 
a yield of 55 to 60 per cent, in weight of juice is all that can be expected 
with unstripped canes. In 1882 the Lafayette Sugar Company, in fif- 
teen weighings of cane and bagasse, showed a yield on clean cane of 
65 per cent. But this is higher than can generally be expected. As a 
result of several years of observation and experience, I am convinced 
that the average yield of three-roll mills on unstripped cane of all kinds 
does not exceed 50 per cent. By double milling, with intervening steam- 
ing or moistening with hot water, much better results are obtained. 

Unfortunately no exact data of the working of such mills are at handy 
and I can but regard as extravagant the statements which have been 
made which claim a yield of 75 to 80 per cent, of the weight of the cane 
milled in juice. Experiments in this division have shown that sorghum 
cane contains of water and Substances soluble therein about 89 per cent, 
of its weight. 

A perfect extraction of the juice by milling, therefore, would give 89 
pounds juice to each 100 pounds of cane. It is needless to add that no 
system of milling now in use comes near realizing this ideal yield. 

PERCENTAGE OF JUICE EXTRACTED. 

The weight of juice extracted by the mill was 41.9 per cent, of the 
weight of the cane ground. 

CANE WORKED FOR SUGAR. 

Of the total weight of 746,350 pounds of amber cane, all but 174,000 
pounds were worked for sugar. The quantity of juice boiled for sugar 
was 572,350x41.9=239,814 pounds. The percentage of sucrose in this 
juice determined by the mean of the analyses of each tankful was S.77. 

The sugar not sucrose (invert sugar, optically inactive sugar, and 
other substances reducing the alkaline copper tartrate mean of all the 
analyses) was 4.00 per cent. Total sugars =.12.77 per cent. Total 
solids=14.14 per cent. Solids not sugars=1.37 per cent. Coefficient 
of purity =62. 

it will be of interest to compare these results with the analyses of 
ripe Amber canes made in this division during the years 1882, '81, '80^ 
and '79. 

Per cent^ 



For 1879, the average of sucrose (14th stage*) was 12. 44 

For 1879, the average of other sugars was 1. 1& 

For 1880, the average of sucrose (1,127 analysest) was 13.85 

For 1880, the average of other sugars was 1. 64 

For 1881, the average sucrose (59 analyses) was 15. 29 

For 1881, the average of other sugars was 1-62 

For 1882, the average of sucrose was 10. 48 

For 1882, the average of other sugars was 1. 33- 

For 1883, the average of sucrose (137 analyses) was 8. 77 

For 1883, the average of other sugars was 4. OO 



*Ag. Rept., 1880, '81, p. 452. 



+ Ag. Rept., 1880, '81, p. 493. 



42 



NORTHERN SflGAR INDUSTRY. 



The striking iDferiority of the canes of this season is at once apparent. 
It appears to be due to the cold season, especially in August and Sep- 
tember, and to the fact that the whole field was prostrated by the storm 
of September 11 and 12. 

To make crystallized sugar out of such an unpromising juice was an 
almost hopeless undertaking. 

While I am sorry that the meager yield of sugar has been adisai)point- 
ment, not only to you and the friends of the industry throughout the 
country, but also to this divisign, yet I do not see how, with the char- 
acter of the cane, and the method employed, it could well have been 
greater. 

MANUFACTURE. 

The method of manufacture was an extremely simple one. As the 
juice flowed from the mill bisulphite of lime solution* was allowed to 
drop into it, about 1 quart to each 100 gallons of juice. ^ 

The object of adding the bisulphite of lime is to prevent fermenta- 
tion. Eaw sorghum juice, in a very short time after it is expressed, 
will begin to change unless some measures are taken to prevent it. In- 
stead of the lime bisulphite the juice may be brought at once, on com- 
ing from the mill, into contact with sulphurous dioxide (sulphur fumes). 

The bisulphite method has this advantage, viz., the quantity of sul- 
phur introduced is under complete control, and can be varied to suit 
the quality of the juice at hand. 

Arriving at the defecating tank,t the juice was heated to about 60^ 
to 70O C. (1250 to 140O F.). The steam was then turned off and milk of 
lime (specific gravity, 15° B.) added, with constant stirring until litmus 
paper showed exact neutrality. The temperature was then rapidly 
raised to the boiling point, but the liquid was not allowed to boil. After 
five minutes the scum was removed and the liquid allowed to flow 
through bag filters into a receiving tank below. Thence it was pumped 
into a large concentrator, and the steam turned on gently, so that the 
foam would come nearly to the top of the pan. This foam was now 
swept off (into a gutter running around the pan) until it became per- 
fectly white and clean. 

The steam was now turned off until the foam settled, and then turned 



*^ Analyses of lime bisulphite employed. 





1. 


2. 


3. 


4. 




1. 0718 
2. 11 
5. 85 


1. 0788 

2. 28 
6.40 




1. 0755 
0. 82 
6.47 




40. 32 
23. 04 







No. 3 was a solid lime compound ; the others were liquid. 

^Dimensions of tank : length, 59. .5 inches; width, 42 inches; average depth of 
juice, 83 inches ; heating surface, 79 square feet, 2 inches copper pipe. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 43 

on with a full head, so as to at once throw the whole mass into violent 
ebullition. 

For this end the pressure of the steam ought not to be less than four 
atmospheres (60 pounds). 

The boiling was continued until the sirup marked 20^ B. while still 
hot. It was then dropped into a receiving tank, whence it was sucked 
up into the vacuum pan and concentrated to 44° to 45^ B. 

With juice of this kind I found it impossible to "boil to grain," al- 
though many faithful attempts were made. It was not difficult to start 
the crystals, but with a sirup so poor in sucrose and so rich in other 
.sugars it was quite impossible to nourish them. 

When sufficiently concentrated the mass was dropped into wagons 
holding three hectoliters (85 gallons) and placed in the crystallizing 
room. 

This room was kept at a temperature of 40° C. (106^ F.), and after five 
to ten days the crystallization was complete and the melada ready for the 
centrifugal. The sugar made in this way, while of course raw, never- 
theless had a nice yellow color and an agreeable flavor.* 

CANE WORKED FOR SIRUP. 

The cane which was harvested from September 29 to October 3, in- 
clusive, was so very poor in quality that no attempt was made to crys- 
tallize the juice. 

The total weight of this cane was 174,000 pounds; its content of su- 
crose was 6.73 i)er cent., and of other sugars 6.16 per cent. 

Per cent. 



Total sugars 12.89 

Total solicit 13.64 

Solids not sugar 76 

Coefficient of purity , 50.00 



Since long experience has shown that substances other than sucrose 
in solution prevent their equal weight of sucrose from cr^ stallizing, it 
is apparent that in such a juice all hope of obtaining crystals must end 
in disappointment. 

The quantity of sirup made from the 174,000 pounds cane was 1,104 
gallons. The weight per gallon was 1L.5 pounds. 

Total weight sirup made, 1,104x11.5=12,696 pounds. Number of 
gallons of sirup per ton of cane, 12.7. The sirup is of fine flavor, but 
rather dark in color, owing to using lime to exact neutrality. 

NOTES ON RESULTS OF WORK. 

1. Single milling, i. e., passing canes through one three-roll mill, gives 
so poor a yield that it will have to be abandoned for sorghum working. 

* The weigUt of sugar made from 572,350 pounds of cane was 7,160 pounds, or 1.24 
per cent. 

The per cent, of sugar obtained from the expressed j nice was 7, 160 X 100 -f- (572,350 X 
.419) = 2.99. 

If 60 per cent, juice had been expressed the yield would have been 35.7 pounds per 
ton of cane. 



44 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Tropical canes seem to mill better than the stalks of sorghum, and sin- 
gle milling of such canes may continue to prove profitable. It is evi- 
dent, however, to eyerj practical worker that a system of expression 
which gives only 45 to 50 per cent, of the total juice of the cane is too 
wasteful to meet the continued approval of farmers and manufacturers. 

Double milling is doing much to remove this difficulty. This division 
has made only a few experiments with double milling, and these show 
a yield of nearly 65 per cent, of weight of cane. In the establishments 
where this process has been used only estimates have been made of its 
efficiency. These estimates, however, may be wide of the truth. I 
think, however, we may safely say that double milling increases the 
yield of juice 10 to 15 per cent. 

2. The soil in the vicinity of Washington is not suitable to the growth 
of sorghum cane. It is true the yield of cane this season was far bet- 
ter than it has ever been heretofore since the Department undertook 
experiments with cane-raising in this locality. When, however, care- 
ful planting and cultivation and liberal fertilizing, combined with a 
fairly favorable season for growth, fail to produce 10 tons of cane per 
acre, it must be admitted that there is a radical defect of soil. The 
climate of Washington, however, is peculiarly favorable to cane growth. 
Early springs, warm summers, and late falls are all that the practical 
cane- grower could demand. 

A sandy loam appears to be the most favorable soil for cane. Yet, it 
should not be forgotten that sorghum is a hardy plant; it will grow even 
under the most unfavorable conditions, and rarely proves a complete 
failure. 

3. Manufacturers and intending manufacturers should not base their 
calculations for the yield of sugar on working canes containing 12 per 
cent, sucrose and onlv 1.5 to 2.0 per cent, of other sugars. I doubt 
whether any field of sorghum of 10 acres extent has ever been raised 
which would give such an average result. In the present state of the 
industry it would be much safer to count on 9.0 per cent, sucrose, 3.0 per 
cent, other sugars, and 2.0 per cent, solids not sugar, as an average of 
the crop from year to year. 

I think this division would be guilty of a great public wrong were it 
by any kind of select results or enthusiastic coloring to induce capital- 
ists to invest money where they would be led to expect a higher return 
than the actual facts warrant. 

The results of the analyses made this year, poor as they are compared 
with those of former years, may nevertheless prove of great advantage 
to those who are proposing to practically engage in the sorghum-sugar 
industry by causing them the more carefully to consider all the difficul- 
ties which they will have to meet. 

EFFECT OF THE STORM OF SEPTEMBER 11 AND 12 ON THE CANE. 

The violent northeast storm which occurred at the beginning of the 
working season completely prostrated the Amber cane. The heads of 



46 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



this variety of cane were heavy. As soon as the ground was softened 
by the rain the stalks could no longer resist the force of the wind. 

The illustration shows how the ripe cane was prostrated, while a less 
ripe variety was left* uninjured. 

The Amber canes were so nearly mature that they had no power of 
recuperation and remained prostrate. A few stalks only of the Amber 
remained standing. Ten days after the storm a few of these canes were 
collected for analysis. For comparison the same number of fallen canes 
were taken at the same time and from the same locality. The fallen and 
standing canes were as nearly alike in size and general appearance as a 
careful selection could make them. On October 8 another similar col- 
lection was made. 

The results of the analyses of these canes are found in the appended 
table : 



Comparative analyses of fallen and standing canes, illustrating effect of ivind storm on canes. 



Date. 



1883. 

September 20 
do ..I. 

September 21 
do 

October 8 . . . 
do 



Standing 
Down . . 
Standing 
Down . . . 
Standing 
Down. . . 



1. 0692 
1. 0662 
1. 0708 
1. 0571 
1. 0734 
1. 0660 



Per ct. 

15. 665 

14. 501 

16. 758 
13. 359 

17. 074 

15. 775 



P. ct 
11. 84 

10. 45 
11.88 I 

8.39 i 

11. 99 i 
10.34 1 



P.ct. 
3. 12 
3. 80 
3. 01 
3. 64 

2. 76 

3. 80 



P.ct. 
14. 96 
|14. 25 
114. 89 
1 12. 03 
14. 75 
,14. 10 



P.ct. 



213 

,256 
,244 



P.ct. 
.543 
.448 
.617 
.541 
.475 



P.ct. 
75.7 
72.0 
71.0 
62.6 
70,2 
65.5 



P.ct. 
8.01 

6. 40 

7. 00 

3. 37 
6. 91 

4. 90 



Date. 



1883, 

September 20 . 

do 

September 21 . 

do 

October 8 

do 



Standing. 

Down 

Standing. 

Down 

Standing. 
Down 



Kilos. 
9.280 
9, 550 

10. 433 

3. 260 
2.560 



Kilos. 

6. 992 

7. 236 
7. 796 
6. 024 



Kilos. 
1.477 
1. 359 
1. 609 
1.446 



Kilos. 
.812 
.956 
.924 



Kilos. 
2. 339 
2. 350 
2. 790 
2. 060 
1. 400 
1.020 



15.9 
14.2 
15.5 



10.5 
11.7 
10 6 
10.4 



70.1 
67.5 
64.2 



The above analyses show that the effect of leveling the canes is most 
disastrous. The percentage of available sucrose was diminished by at 
least two units from the effect of the storm. Inasmuch as the percentage 
of available sugar in the juices worked was, in round numbers, three, 
it is seen that had there been no storm the amount of sugar made from 
the cane would have been nearly doubled. 

In all localities subject to equinoctial storms the above figures will 
be of considerable interest. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



47 



ANALYTICAL RESULTS. 

In the following tables will be found the analytical data derived from 
the analj^ses of samples of raw and defecated juices and semi- sirup,, 
taken in the manner already described from the large tanks during the 
process of manufacture. 

In Table III each semi-sirup represents the whole of the juice operated 
on from the preceding date in table No. I . 

Thus the analysis No. 3, Table III, is a semi-sirup made from juice 
represented by analysis No. 1, Table I ; No. 6, Table II, is from No. 4^ 
Table I, &c. 

Table I. — Analyses of raw juices taken from receiving tank. 











as 


EC 


>> . 
a 






>> 




.nalyses. 


Date. 




t. total solii 


t. total sug 


t sucrose 
polarizatio 


it. sucrose 
3 polarizati 


it. average 
sugars. 


int of purit 


05 


c« 
















p , 






o 






*o 


♦ 0! 


ID 


§ « 




§ S 


"0 




1 






<D 










S 





(D 
















Ph 


■ ^1 






1 


Sept. 


12 


1. 0573 


13. 72 


12. 60 


9. 50 


9. 28 


3. 32 


67. 6 


. 4100 


4 


Sept. 


13 


1. 0591 


14. 27 


12. 68 


9. 50 


8. 68 


4. 00 


60. 8 


, 3300 


8 


Sept. 


14 


1 0578 


13. 80 


12. 74 


9. 75 


9. 11 


3. 63 


66. 


• 3700 


10 


Sept. 


14 


1 0599 


14. 55 


13, 06 


10. 20 


9. 48 


3. 58 


UK. 1 
00. 1 


. 4400 


12 


Sept. 


15 


1 0625 


14. 96 


13^ 39 


10. 35 


9. 49 


3. 90 


63.4 


. 5300 


15 


Sept. 
Sept. 


15 


1. 0608 


14. 56 


13. 28 


10. 00 


9. 27 


4. 01 


63. 6 


. 5300 


18 


17 


1. 0658 


15. 54 


12. 85 


9. 15 


7. 10 


5. 75 


45.6 


. 6000 


20 


Sept. 


17 


1. 0614 


14. 45 


12. 51 


8. 25 


8. 33 


4. 18 


57.6 


6000 


23 


Sept. 


18 


j 0612 


14.40 


12. 17 


9. 70 


8. 09 


4. 08 


56. 1 


. 6205 


25 


Sept. 


18 


I 0.551 


13. 08 


10. 30 


7. 30 


6. 95 


3. 35 


53. 1 


• 5870 


28 


Sept. 


18 


1 0571 


13. 02 


11. 79 


8. 75 


8. 31 


3. 48 


63. 8 


62.50 


33 


Sept. 
Sept! 


19 


1. 0596 


12. 97 


12. 53 




9. 43 


3! 10 


72. 5 


. 7151 


42 


25 


1. KtOol 


13. 73 


12. 16 


9. 20 


8. 59 


3' 57 


62. 5 


4129 


45 


Sept. 


26 


1 AR7 1 


15. 71 


14. 53 


1 0. 90 


10. 64 


3. 89 


67. 7 


4577 


48 


Sept. 


26 


1. UOOl 


14. 84 


13! 97 


10. 50 


10. 23 


3. 74 


68. 9 


4799 


52 


Sept. 


27 


1 (\R\K 
±. UO.OO 


15. 47 


13. 94 


10. 00 


10. 00 


3. 94 


64 7 


5064 


55 


Sept." 
Sept. 


27 


1. 0622 


14'. 80 


13! 04 


9! 50 


9! 14 


3! 90 


61.7 


5739 


58 


27 


1. 0624 


14. 63 


12. 60 


10. 05 


9. 44 


3. 16 


64. 5 


. 5924 


61 


Sept. 


28 


1. 0649 


15. 40 


13. 94 


10. 25 


9. 80 


4.14 


63.6 


. 9841 


64 


Sept. 
Sept. 


28 


1. 0579 


1.3. 6t 
15. 17 


12. 85 
• 14. 30 


8. 30 
.5. 30 


8. 14 
6. 34 


4.71 

7. 96 


59. 6 




67 


29 


1. 0657 


41.7 


1. 9433 


69 


Sept. 


29 


1. 0653 


15. 32 


12. 79 


7. 65 


7. 21 


5. 58 


47.1 


. 4436 


71 


Sept. 


29 


1. 0604 


12. 80 


13. 62 


7. 85 


8.31 


5.31 


64.9 


.3614 


73 


Oct. 


1 


1. 065.5 


15.41 


16. 63 


7. 00 


8. 11 


8. 52 


52.6 


. 4537 


76 


Oct. 


1 


1. 0655 


1.5.41 


12. 85 


3. 65 


5. 06 


7. 79 


32.8 


.4417 


78 


Oct. 


1 


1. 0591 


12. 80 


11. 30 


3. 55 


5. 00 


6. 30 


39.0 


.5023 


80 


Oct. 


2 


1. 0.524 


12. 01 


11.28 


.5. 75 


6. 37 


4. 91 


53.0 


.4954 


83 


Oct. 


3 


1. 0.520 


12. 22 


10. 86 


5.70 


6.04 


4.82 


49.4 


.5494 


85 


Oct. 


3 


1. 0515 


12. 20 


11. 37 


6. 65 


7. 03 


4. 34 


57.6 


.4567 


87 


Oct. 


3 


1. 05.54 


13. 09 


11. 93 


7. 85 


7. 78 


4.15 


59.4 


.4980 


89 


Oct. 


4 


1.0.589 


1.3.77 


12. 39 


8. 50 


8.21 


4. 18 


59.6 


.4667 


91 


Oct. 


4 


1. 0577 


13. 42 


12. 26 


7. 85 


8. 03 


4. 23 


59.9 


.4461 


94 


Oct. 


4 


1. 0595 


14. 06 


12. 73 


8. 85 


8. 75 


3. 98 


62.2 


.4283 


96 


Oct. 


5 


1. 0595 


14.38 


12. 68 


9. 00 


8. 71 


3. 97 


60. 5 


.4568 


98 


Oct. 


5 


1. 0H33 


1.5. 29 


13. 27 


10 60 


10. 15 


3.12 


66.3 


.6025 


100 


Oct. 


5 


1. 0656 


15. 41 


13. 91 


11.40 


10. 91 


3. 00 


70.7 


.6944 


103 


Oct. 


6 


1. 0626 


14. 89 


12. 63 


10. 30 


9. 98 


2 65 


67.0 


.5882 


105 


Oct. 


6 


1. 0657 


15. 77 


14. 17 


11. 00 


10. 68 


3. 49 


67.7 


.5358 


107 


Oct. 


6 






14. 23 
12.54 


11.25 

8.70 


11 00 
8. 59 


3.23 
3. 95 






109 


Oct. 


8 


i. 6.576 


13. 73 


62.5 


. 4851 


111 


Oct. 


8 


1. 0585 


13. 82 


12. 22 


8. 70 


8.28 


3. 94 


59 9 


.4932 


113 


Oct. 


9 


1. 0523 


12. 56 


11. 50 


7. 65 


7 67 


3. 83 


61.0 


.6130 


115 


Oct. 


9 


1. 0.549 


13. 22 


11. 74 


7. 80 


7. 81 


3. 93 


59.0 


.6778 


117 


Oct. 


9 


1. 0565 


13. 75 


12.20 


8.10 


8. 12 


4. 08 


59.0 


.4733 


119 


Oct 


10 


1. 0559 


13. 37 


11. 96 


8. 10 


8. 14 


3. 82 


60.8 


.4855 


121 


Oct. 


10 


1. 0510 


12. 15 


10. 82 


6. 15 


6. 33 


4. 49 


52 1 


.7943 


123 


Oct. 


10 


1. 0505 


11. 65 


10. 56 


6. 25 


6. 37 


4. 19 


54.5 


.7949 


125 


Oct. 


11 


1. 0623 


14. 78 


13.27 


9. 55 


9. 39 


3. 88 


63.5 


.5117 


127 


Oct 


11 


1. 06-22 


14. 70 


13.41 


9, 75 


9. 69 


3. 72 


65.9 


.6097 


129 


Oct. 


12 


1. 0632 


15. 05 


12. 37 


8. 10 


8.19 


4. 18 


54.4 


. 6067 


131 


Oct. 


12 


1. 0621 


14. 17 


13. 07 


7. 75 


7. 93 


5. 14 


55 9 


. 4928 


134 


Oct. 


13 


1. 0566 


13. 00 


11.79 


6. 40 


6. 71 


5.08 


51.6 


. 6623 




Average. 


1. 0598 


14. 06 


12. 68 


8. 72 


8. 38 


4. 09 


59.2 


.5685 



.021 
.016 
.025 
.017 
.022 
.023 



,034 
.026 
,031 



.024 
.*628' 



019 



, 029 . 181 
,0246 I .1544 



48 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Table II. — Analyses of defecated juices taken from receiving tank. 

(N. B. — Each number in the following table represents the raw juice designated by the next preceding 
number of Table I ; thus !No. 65 of this table is from the same tank as No. 64 of Table I.] 



Date. 



September 12 
September 13 
September 14 
September 14 
September 15 
September 15 
September 17 
September 17 
September 18 
September 18 
September 18 
September 19 
September 22 
September 25 
September 26 
September 26 
September 27 
September 27 
September 27 
September 28 
September 28 
September 29 
September 29 
October 1 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 
October 10 
October 10 
October 10 
October 11 
October 12 
October 12 
October 12 
October 13 



9 .. 

9 . 





Specific gravity. 


Per cent, total solids. 


Per cent, total sugars. 


Per cent, sucrose by 
direct polarization." 


Per cent, sucrose by 
double polarization. 


Per cent, average of 
other sugars. 




1. 0589 


14. 21 


12. 28 


9. 50 


9. 10 


3. 18 




1. 0617 


14. 69 


13. 29 


9. 35 


9. 28 


4. 01 




1. 0604 


14. 34 


12. 76 


9. 65 


9. 04 


3. 72 




1. 0623 


15. 05 


13. 68 


10. 60 


9. 91 


3. 77 




1. 0580 


13. 71 


12. 91 


10. 50 


9. 28 


3. 63 




1. 0655 


14. 44 


13. 40 


10. 50 


9. 43 


3. 97 




1. 0671 


15. 66 


14, 44 


9. 15 


8. 45 


5. 99 




1. 0627 


15. 60 


13. 46 


10. 00 


8. 89 


4. 57 




1. 0633 


14. 81 


12. 57 


9. 25 


8. 51 


4. 06 




1. 0597 


14. 11 


11. 26 


8. 50 


7. 86 


3.40 




I. 0576 


13. 67 


11. 62 


9. 35 


8. 13 


3. 48 




1. 0614 


14. 46 


12. 95 




9. 73 


3. 22 




1. 0679 


15. 71 


14. 28 


7. 55 


7 96 


6. 32 




1. 0609 


14. 18 


12. 98 


9. 35 


8. 88 


4. 10 




1. 0675 


15. 78 


15. 39 


10. 95 


11. 58 


3. 81 




1. 0688 


16. 05 


14. 17 


11. 10 


10. 36 


3. 81 




1. 0685 


1.5. 87 


14. 16 


10. 65 


10. 28 


3. 88 




1. 0660 


15.41 


13. 62 


10. 15 


9. 94 


3. 68 




1. 06.57 


1.5. 25 


13. 42 


10. 36 


10. 36 


3. 06 




1. 0669 


15. 56 


14. 47 


10. 60 


10. 64 


3. 83 




1. 0611 


14. 05 


12.64 


8. 45 


8. 16 


4. 49 




1. 0681 


15. 70 


15. 23 


6. 60 


8. 43 


6. 80 




1.0706 


16. 43 


14. 30 


7. 90 


7. 90 


6. 46 




1. 0684 


16. 00 


16. 90 


7. 55 


8.41 


8. 49 




1. 0688 


15. 80 


13. 12 


4. 50 


5. 96 


7.16 




1. 0537 


12. 32 


11. 74 


5. 75 


6. 85 


4. 89 




1. 0545 


12. 88 


11. 23 


6 30 


6. 44 


4. 79 




1. 0533 


12. 55 


11.36 


7. 00 


7. 18 


4. 18 




1. 0569 


13. .30 


12. 06 


8. 45 


8. 1 8 


3. 88 




1. 0601 


14.12 


12. 34 


8. 00 


8.21 


4 13 




1. 0635 


15. 00 


13. 66 


9. 30 


9. 23 


4. 43 




1. 0622 


14. 86 


13. 15 


9.15 


'9. 00 


4. 15 




1.8654 


15. 57 


13. 83 


10. 65 


10. 38 


3. 45 




1. 0680 


15. 68 


13 88 


10. 05 


10. 81 


3. 07 




1. 0675 


15. 83 


14. 07 


10. 50 


10. 34 


3. 73 




1. 0681 


15. 99 


14. 32 


11. 20 


10. 91 


3. 41 




1. 0693 


16. 30 


14. 57 


11.50 


11. 16 


3.41 




1. 0613 


14. 53 


13. 15 


9 25 


9. 14 


4. 01 




1. 0.599 


14. 27 


12. 42 


8. 95 


8. 69 


3. 73 




1. 0534 


12. 74 


11. 23 


7.55 


7.48 


.3. 75 




1. 0.565 


13. 30 


11. 89 


8. 25 


8.16 


3. 73 




1. 0.577 


13.71 


12. 34 


8. 35 


8. 30 


4. 04 




1. 0575 


13. 47 


11. 89 


8. 20 


8. 30 


3. .59 




1. 0504 


11.97 


11. 04 


6. .50 


6. 6 2 


4. 42 




1.0513 


11. 95 


11.25 


6. 85 


7.01 


4.24 




1. 0630 


14.88 


13. 02 


9. 35 


9. 28 


3. 74 




1.0642 


1.5. 14 


13. 38 


8. 75 


8. 88 


4. 50 




1. 0674 


15. 55 


14. 01 


9. 10 


9. 00 


5. 01 


■• 


1. 0694 


14. 51 


10. 48 


9. 20 


8. 45 


2. 03 


■■ 


1. 0568 


13. 13 


11. 76 


6. .50 


6. 68 


5. 08 




1. Of)23 


14. 6 ) 


13. 06 


8. 91 


8. 62 


4. 32 



64.0 
63.2 
63.0 
65.8 
67.6 
6 5. 3 
53.9 
56.9 
57.4 
55.7 
59.4 
67.2 
50.6 
62.6 
73.3 
64.5 
7 
5 
9 
3 




64, 



48.0 
52. 5 
37.7 

55.6 



68.9 
65.3 
68.2 
68.4 
62.9 
60.9 
58.7 
61.3 
60.5 
61.6 
.55.3 
58.6 
62.3 
58.6 
.57.8 
58.2 
50. 8 



.4300 
. 4900 
.7000 
.7100 
.4200 
.7100 
.6017 
.6110 
.6120 
.6821 
.7669 
.4973 
.4920 
. 5539 
.6173 
.5854 
.6364 
. 7028 
.5247 
. 4820 
.5494 
.4907 
.4732 
.5258 
.4444 
.3987 
.4386 
.4245 
. 4656 
.5244 
. 6354 
.7105 
. 6923 
. 5926 
.6350 
. 5258 
. 5274 
. .54.^9 
. 5452 
.5i05 
.5248 
. 5084 
.4669 
.5212 
.6174 
. 6442 
1..5411 



.019 
,032 
Oil 
,027 
,017 
,023 
,017 



13 

^ 00 



•a "5 



,1190 
2000 
0680 
1710 
1050 
1460 
1050 



024 
022 



,015 
,'6l6" 



019 

020 



1.500 
1375 



.1375 
'.'0938 



1000 



.1188 
. 1250 



93.5 
90.5 



88.3 
'86.0 



87 



100.0 

84.2 



020 ! . 1269 



).9 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
Table III. — Analyses of semi-sirups from Amher cane. 



49 



Date. 



a, rj a 
o o o 



September 13 . 
September 13. 
September 15 
September 15. 
September 18. 
September 18 
September 19. 
September 24. 
Scptem-ber 26. 
September 26 
September 26 
September 27. 
September 27. 
September 27. 
September 28 
September 28 
September 29. 

October 1 

October 1 

October 2 

Octobers 

October 5. 

October 15 

October 15 



Average 



1. 2974 
1.2618 
1. 2995 
1.2294 
1.2780 
].2538 
1.8022 
1.2219 
1.3081 , 
1.1922 
1.2849 [ 
1. 22G3 ; 
1. 2954 i 
1.2687 i 
1.2382 I 
1.2886 i 
1.2744 i 
1.1992 I 
1.2302 i 
1. 2282 
1. 2701 
1. 2676 
1.20.35 
1. 2237 



1. 2559 



60. 13 

54. 00 
60. 07 
47. 77 

55. 70 
53. 09 

59. 35 

53. 48 

60. 87 
40. 84 
57. 14 
47. 24 
59. 37 

54. 62 
49. 02 

56. 75 

54. 39 
41.72 
47.18 
46. 97 

55. 37 
54. 19 
43. 13 
46. 62 



52. 478 



48. 43 
47. 37 

54. 48 
42. 56 
=53. 01 
45. 84 

55. 67 
45. 50 
50. 28 
36. 47 

49. 86 
41. 09 
50.01 

47. 57 
45. 20 

50. 80 
50. 23 
38. 01 
41. 07 
41.23 

48. 33 

49. 81 
36. 95 
40. 20 



50 



35. 
33.0 
40.0 
31.8 
32.9 

4L4' 
15.7 
36.0 
26.3 
35.5 
30.7 
37.0 
36.3 

"32."6" 

27.5 
14.0 
13. 1 
19.4 
32. 
35. 9 
26.0 
24.1 



29. 83 



r 

33.14 

31. .^3 
38.68 
30.04 i 

32. 04 I 
31.78 ! 
40.53 
19.73 
35.54 
25.60 
34.11 i 
28.29 : 
35.70 ^ 
34.80 j 
33.49 
32.53 
29.63 
16.41 i 
17. 66 
22. 13 j 
32.40 
35.64 
26.11 ! 
24.79 



15. 29 

I. 5. 84 
15. 80 
12. 52 
20. 97 
14.06 
15. 14 
25. 77 
20. 74 
10. 87 
15. 75 
12. 80 

14. 31 
12. 77 

II. 71 
18. 27 
20. 60 
21.60 
23.41 
19. 10 

15. 93 
14. 17 
10. 84 
15. 41 



55.1 
56.5 
64.4 
62.9 
57.5 
59. 9 
68.3 
36. 9 
58.4 
62.7 
59.7 
59.7 
60.1 
63.7 
68.1 
59.0 
54.5 
39.3 
37.4 
47.2 
58.5 
65.8 



53.2 



1. 7700 
1. 2217 
]. 3183 
1. 9540 

1. 7300 

2. 3643 
1. 6066 
1. 7260 



30. 08 I 16. 28 i 57. 1 1. 7680 



CONCLUSIONS FROM TABLE 1. 

The best Amber juice of the season was obtained September 19, 
analysis '^o. 30. 

The substances in solution in this juice, aside from the sugars, were 
only .44 per cent. 

No. 107 might have proved a better juice, but the data for computa- 
tion are not complete. 

Direct polarization gave a mean result (viz, 8.72 per cent.) somewhat 
higher than that of double polarization (viz, 8.38). This shows that 
there was present in the juice dextrogyratory matter not sugar (viz, 
soluble starch, gum, &c.) more than enough to counteract the lievo- 
rotatory power of the invert sugar present. 

The error which may arise trom relying on a single polarization is 
illustrated by sucli analyses as Nos. 18, 23, 42, &c., in which the first 
polarization gives results too high; and in Nos. 67, 73, 76, 78, 80, &c., 
in which the results are too low. 

In cane, ripe and lately harvested, the results of single polarization 
are quite reliable. In injured or long -harvested canes they are too low. 
In canes containing large quantities of starch and gum they are too 
high. 

CONCLUSIONS FROM TABLE II. 

As is to be expected the effect of defecation on the juices is to in- 
crease the percentage of ash, this being in Table I, .5685, and in II, .579. 
16435 N s 4 



50 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



This small increase sliows, however, that most of the lime added in de- 
fecation was removed in the sediments formed and by filtration through 
bags, since the concentration which takes place in defecation is almost 
sufficient to account for the increase. 

The results of single and double polarization agree more closely than 
in Table I, being 8.91 per cent, and 8.62 per cent. resi3ectively. 

The i^rocess of defecation therefore has removed a great deal of the 
substances (starch, gum, invert sugar) which disturb polarization. 

The increase in the percentage of sucrose is » ue to the conceutration 
already alluded to. 

The increase in uncrystallizable sugar (from 4.09 to 4.32) is greater 
than can be reasonably accounted for by concentration. 

The coefficient of purity was raised by defecation from 59.2 to 60.4. 

This increase was not as great as was expected, nor so much as was 
secured b}' carbouatation as described further on. 

CONCLUSIONS FROM TABLE IIL 

In as much as the juices were reduced to semi-sirup in an open pan 
it will be of interest to study the effect of this proceeding on the inver- 
sion of the sucrose. 

The ratio of anoptose, &c., in Table II to sucrose by double polariza- 
tion is 

4.32 : 8.62 = 1 : 1.995. 

In the semi-sirups it is 

16.28 : 30.08 = 1 : 1.848. 

It is thus seen that a considerable loss of sucrose has occurred by 
inversion. This confirms the results of double polarization which show 
that there is much more invert sugar in the semi-sirup than in the 
juices. 

These results give additional emphasis to the fact that sugar juices, 
immediately after defecation, should be concentrated in a vacuum. 

AMBER CANE GROWN IN INDIANA. 

In order to determine the influence of soil and climate on the sugar 
product of cane, the Lafayette Sugar Company, Wea, Ind., engaged to 
plant and cultivate five acres of early Amber cane for the Department 
of Agriculture, to work the same to a semi-sirup weighing 25° B. hot ; 
to put the same in barrels and send to Washington. 

The soil in whicli the cane was grown was a light sandy loam, with 
gravel, then claj' subsoil, and quite hilly. 

On the top of the hills the soil was full of gravel and quite unpro- 
ductive. The field had been in cultivation fifteen years, mostly in corn, 
and had never had any fertilizer of any kind. The average yield of corn 
on the patch put in cane had been about 20 bushels per acre. The ground 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



51 



was plowed with a common two-horse plow, and harrowed. The cane 
seed was drilled in rows 3. J feet apart on the 3d of May.* The seed 
had been previously steeped in tepid water for forty-eight hours. The 
plants generally came up in a week. The young plants suffered much 
from cold, wet weather. The cane received two hoeings and three 
plowings, with double sulky cultivator. There was a heavy frost the 
morning of May 31, injuring the young plants somewhat. 



Meteorological data from the 



icial records of Purdue University, seven miles from cane- 
field, Wea, Ind. 



Months, 1883. 



Mean 
pressui-e. 



Temperatures. 



Mean. Max. Min 



Mean 
relative I 
humidity. ' 



Total rain 
and 
melted 



Wind. 



Total. Daily. Hourly. 



May 

June 

July 

August .-. 
September 



Inches. 
30. 000 

29. 990 

30. 093 
30. 131 
30. 471 



58. 42 
65. 36 
71. 53 
68. 75 
61. 22 



Inches. 



74. 26 



Miles. 
5, 902. 
5, 720. 
5, 272. 

3, 565, 

4, 986. 



Miles. 
210. 70 
220. 00 
170. 06 
142. 60 
184. 66 



Mr. Deming, the superintendent, writing under date of August 3, 
says : 

The season lias been remarkable for the nuruber of heavy rainfalls, accompanied 
with strong winds, damaging the cane considerably. At 2 p. m. this day the ther- 
mometer registered 39". 

During the latter part of Sei)tember I went to the company's works 
at Wea (West Point post-office), Ind., to superintend the working of 
this cane into semi-sirup, which was done on .the 1st and 2d of ^ ctober. 
The method eniployed was the same as has been described lor the cane 
here, with the exception that the juice as it lelt the mill passed through 
a sulphur box, where it was thoroughly mixed with the fumes of burn- 
ing sulphur. This removed the necessity of allowing the lime bisul- 
phite to run into the juice as it left the mill, and this chemical was there- 
fore added first when the juice reached the defecator. 

PRODUCT OF CANE, ETC. 

A heavy rain and wind storm on the night of September 29 had com- 
pletely prostrated the cane, and the whole of it was gathered and 
weighed very wet. I therefore made a deduction of 2J per cent, for 
this increase of weight. 

Wet cane tons.. 48. 

Less 2| per cent do . . . 46. 8 

Clean cane (estimated) do... 42. 

Juice expressed , gallons.. 5,309. 

Specific gravity degrees B . . 7. 95 



^Abont one acre of this which did not make a good stand was replanted the last 
week in May. 



52 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Temperature 

Weight of juice expressed 

Juice expressed (gross weight cane) 
Juice expressed (net weight cane) . . 



degrees F . . C8. 8 
...pounds.. 46,932. 



percent.. 50. 
do... 55.9 



The mill used was Squeir's No. 2 Louisiana. 

The semi-sirup made amounted to 1,014 gallons, measured cold; spe- 
cific gravity, 27^ B.= 1.225. One gallon, therefore, weighs 10.17 pounds j 
total weight, 1,014 gallons =10,312 pounds. 

This semi-sirup was put in barrels and sent to Washington by freight. 
It arrived there on October 25, and was immediately boiled in the vac- 
uum-pan. 

The crystals were easily started in the pan, and grew to full size in 
about ten hours. 

The melada was ready for the centrifugal as it came from the pan, 
and some of it was swung directly from the pan, yielding 50 per cent, 
of good sugar. 

I did not succeed in boiling to grain" ^ith any other sirup except 
these two " strikes " from the Indiana cane. 



The weight of sugar obtained from the Indiana cane was 2,860 pounds. 
This gives a percentage of 3.39 on clean cane ground and 6.09 per cent, 
of the weight of j uice expressed. 

The result of the experiment with the Indiana cane was in every way 
encouraging, and served in a manner to diminish the disappointment 
which attended the work in other directions. 

A yield of over 60 pounds of sugar to the ton when only 50 per cent, 
of the weight of cane was obtained in the expressed juice is an indica- 
tion of what may be obtained in the future with better milling or a 
more thorough extraction of the sugar by other methods. 

ALALYSES OF CANES, SIRUPS, AND SUGARS FROM INDIANA CANES. 

These canes were cut, the leaves and tops left undisturbed, the cut 
surface covered with melted wax, and the whole wrapped carefully in 
paper and sent by express to the laboratory here for analysis. 

JS^os. 1 and 2 were cut in the afternoon of October 1 and analyzed 
October 4, having been three days on the road. 

Xo. 1 was a sample of eight selected canes. No. 2 was a sample of 
sixteen canes taken seriatim from an average row, and represents the 
cane as a whole. It seems to have deteriorated very little in transit, 
and the analyses of the semi-sirup go to show that the average of the 
whole patch was about a mean of the results of Nos. 1 and 2. No. 3 
was cut at 4 p. m. October 1, and analyzed October 6, at 9 a. m., an in- 
terval of four days and seventeen hours. The results of this analysis 
show that the cane had greatly deteriorated. 



SUGAR OBTAINED. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



53 



From this it appears that caues even carefully prepared and pro- 
tected will not keep in good condition longer than three days in warm 
autumn weather. 

TABLE OF RESULTS. 



Indiana canes and sirups. 



Sucrose. 



15"o. 1. Sample of eio:lit selected canes .. 

No. 2. Sample of sixteen average canes 

No. 3. Cane cut October 1 

No. 4. Semi-sirup 

No. 5. Semi-sirup , 



Per cent. 
13. 25 
10 73 
8. 54 

36. 76 

37. 27 



SEMI-SIRUPS. 



]N'os. 4 and 5 of preceding table were taken from semi-sirups made 
October 1. The sirup was placed in glass-stoppered bottles, sealed with 
wax, and sent by express to Washington. The analyses were made 
October 8. 

REMARKS — SEMI-SIRUP. 

The semi-sirup from the Indiana cane acquired a somewhat darker 
color by remaining three weeks in barrels than it had at first. It did 
not, however, suffer any deterioration in its sugar content, and made 
as much sugar doubtless as it would have done if boiled directly to 
grain from the concentrating pans.* 

This fact is one which may prove of some importance to manufac- 
turers whose strike-pans are inadequate to the capacity of the rest of the 
works. 

My experience confirms that of Professors Weber and Scovell, who 
last year stored semi-sirup at their works at Champaign, 111., with suc- 
cess. In such cases, however, it is necessary to be constantly on the 
alert to guard against every a^jpearance of fermentation. A fermenta- 
tion once started in a quantity of semi sirup would act like a contagious 
disease and soon aftect every fermentable liquid within its reach. Only 
necessity, therefore, should lead to the storage of semi-sirup. It should 
be reduced to melada as soon as possible. 

SUGAR. 

The sugar made from the Indiana cane was of a light yellow color, 
slightly tinged with green. Washed with a little cold water in the 
centrifugal it gave a product almost white, and of a fine flavor. The 
crystals were large, hard, and bright, and such as would be most highly 
prized by refiners. 

The washed sugar, however, would need no refining. It is already in 
excellent condition for the table or kitchen. 



* About one quart of lime bisulphite was added to each barrel of semi-sirup. 



54 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 

Subjected to analysis, the Indiana sugar gave the following results : 



Sucrose. 



Other 
sugars. 



Per cent. 
97. 27 
89. 24 



Per cent. 
0. 60 
4. 55 



Washed sugar ... 
Unwashed sugar. 



A sample of the washed sugar sent to M. Dupont, secretary of the 
French Association of Sugar Chemists, was analyzed by him with the 
foUowmg results : * 

Per cent. 

Sucrose * 99.50 

Ash 0. 18 

Reducing sugar Trace. 

Water and undetermined U. 32 

100. 00 

THE RIO GRANDE, N. J., SUGAR FACTORY. 

The sorghum-sugar factory at Eio Grande, near Cape May, N. J., 
has been in operation three years. The company has a plantation of 
about 3,000 acres. The soil is a sandy loam. 

This companj^ receives from the State of IS'ew Jersey a subvention 
amounting to $1 per ton for the cane and 1 cent per pound for the 
sugar. 

The cane is planted in hills so that it can be cultivated both ways. 
Each hill is about 10 inches square, and the seeds are planted over this 
surface and not all in one place. 

More seed is planted than necessary for a full stand. After the plants 
are well up the weak and slender ones are removed, leaving about six 
healthy stalks to each hill. 

The varieties of cane preferred by the company are early Amber and 
early Orange, equal areas being planted with them. Other varieties are 
grown for experimental purposes, but not in large quantities. 

The canes are brought to the mill on a tramway. The superintend- 
ent told me that the cost of transportation was very much diminished 
by it. 

Arriving at the mill the canes are lifted from the trams by machinery. 
Double milling is employed. The bagasse from the first mill is sprinkled 
with water before passing through the supplemental mill. 

The method of manufacture employed at Eio Grande is a modifica- 
tion of the sulphur process. It is further set forth in the following 
specification : 

To all whom if may concern: 

Be it known that I, Henry A. Hughes, of Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, 
have invented a new and useful improvement in processes of defecating and clarify- 
ing sacchtirine liquors, of which the following is a specification. 



* Bulletin de rAssociation desChemistes desucrerie etde distillerie, D^cembre, 1883, 
page 366. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



5.5 



The object of the invention is to separate from the saccharine liquors all or the 
greater portion of the matters therein contained, except sugar and water, this pro- 
cess being commonly known in the art as " defecation" and " clarification." At the 
present time four general methods may oe recognized for accomplishing this result, 
these methods depending respectively upon the application of heat, upon the use of 
chemicals, upon filtration, and upon galvanic or electrical action. My invention be- 
longs mainly to the second class, inasmuch as the i^rocesses hereinafter described de- 
pend chiefly upon the employment of certain chemical agents. 

The invention consists in a mixture of sulphurous-acid gas and cream of lime for 
treating the saccharine liquor. Said mixture I believe to be both chemical and me- 
chanical, inasmuch as there is contained considerable free sulphurous-acid gas in the 
compound when in best condition for use ; also, in the x)rocess of treating the saccha- 
rine liquor with said mixture in the manner set forth ; also in the process of treating 
the saccharine liquor subsequent to the same being acted upon by the aforesaid mix- 
ture with an aqueous solution of acid ; also in the process of treating the saccharine 
liquor with the aforesaid mixture and the dilute acid solution and filtering while cold 5 
also in the process of treating the saccharine liquor with the aforesaid mixture and 
the dilute acid solution, then heating, and finally filtering ; also in the process of 
delaying fermentation in the saccharine liquors by treatment with the aforesaid mix- 
ture and the dilute acid solution ; and also in the process of removing the sulphurous 
taste in sugar, defecated by the aforesaid or any other sulphur processes, by injection 
of live steam. 

The best means which I now know for practically operating the inventions hereinaf- 
ter claimed'and described, is as follows : The juice after being expressed from the cane 
by any well-known means, is collected in a tank of suitable size, holding, generally, 
about 1,000 gallons. To it is added a mixture, which is prepared in the follow- 
ing manner : Fresh quicklime is slacked with water, so that the resulting mixture 
has the consistence of a thick cream, which is conducted into a vat or reservoir. In 
this vat Is arranged a shaft provided with radial arms, which carry beaters or pad- 
dles, and means are provided for rotating said shaft in the vat. Said vat, by means 
of a flue or passage entering at its upper portion, communicates with a furnace suit- 
ably constructed for burning sulphur, so that by means of said connecting passage the 
sulphurous-acid gas, resulting from the combustion of the sulphur, is led into the up- 
per portion of the vat and above the cream of lime therein. Suitable means are pro- 
vided for drawing in said fumes, so that a constant current of sulphurous-acid gas is 
caused to enter the vat. The shaft and beaters being set in rotation, the liquid con- 
tents of the vat are violently agitated, and at the same time the sulphurous-acid gas 
is beaten into and caused to mingle with the same. The process of mixing the gas 
and cream of lime is continued until the liquid assumes a clear yellow color and gives, 
when tested with litmus test-paper, a strongly acid reaction. This acid reaction is 
essential. The liquid also has a clearly perceptible sulphurous smell. The exact 
length of time for beating and passage of sulphurous-acid gas in the cream of lime can- 
not definitely be stated ; but for all practical purposes it will be suflicient if the liquor 
presents the characteristics before stated, when it will be ready for use. It is prefer- 
able to make the cream of lime of as thick a consistence aspossible, while at the same 
time not so thick as will prevent the working of the beaters. It will be noticed also, that 
shortly before the cream of lime becomes impregnated with sulphurous-acid gas, so as 
fo reach the condition before described, its temperature becomes considerably elevated 
to a degree almost enough to scald the naked hand. Alter the liquid reaches the be- 
fore-stated condition, further continuation of the process depends upon the state of 
the caue-jnice to be treated. Thus, if the juice is pressed from frost-bitten, soured, 
or otherwise damaged cane, so that the juice is more than normally sour, it is advis- 
able to continue the impregnation of the cream of lime for from ten to twenty minutes 
longer, or generally to bring the liquor to a higher degree of concentration, strength? 
and acidity. The apparatus before set forth for combining the lime and sulphurous- 



66 



NORTHEKN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



acid gas I do uot claim iu this application, inasmuch as the same forms the subject 
of a separate application filed herewith, to which reference is made for details of the 
mechanism. 

I desire to call especial attention to the fact that the above-named substance, to 
which I have given the name of " sulphureted cream of lime," is in fact not bisulphite 
of lime, but is probably a combination of bisulphite, hyposulphite, and peutasulphite 
of lime, or, in fact, all possible sulphites, inasmuch as it is made by the saturation of 
cream of lime with sulphurous acid up to and beyond the satisfaction of all chemical 
affinities. It must, when first made, and in best condition for use, show the yellow 
color before mentioned, and give off" fumes of sulphurous acid gas. 

I am aware that bisulphite, of lime has been used for defecating sugar juice, and that 
various processes of defecation are iu existence depending upon the use of that ma- 
terial. I desire to disclaim any and all processes of sugar delecation w^liich depend 
upon the addition of bisulphite of lime only to the liquor to be tested. 

I am also aware that there are known processes of sugar defecation involving the 
use separately of quicklime and sulphurous acid in solution, these materials not being- 
combined, but being successively added to the liquor. Such use or separate applica- 
tion of sulphurous acid and quicklime form no part of my invention, and is hereby 
disclaimed. 

To the cane juice collected in the tank I add buch a x^roportion of the sulphurous 
acid and cream of lime, combii.ed as before stated, as will render the contents of the 
tank slightly turbid. No definite proportion can be stated, nor is it necessary to do 
so for practical purposes. The test of turbidity is sufficient, and itself determines 
the amount of the mixture to be added. It is important to note, however, that the 
condition of the juice hastens or delays the turbid appearance. Thus, if the juice is 
normally neutral a very small proportion of the mixture will render it turbid. On 
the other hand, if the juice is acid the turbid condition will be delayed iu some pro- 
portion to the acidity. The effect of adding the mixture to the juice is to cause a pre- 
cipitation of the coloring matters and other impurities, excepting the mucilage or 
gum. This effect is btst produced when the mixture is used immediately after pro- 
duction, as it should be. The mixture deteriorates if allowed to stand in air. If it is 
necessary to keep the mixture for any length of time it should be hermetically sealed 
up in air-tight vessels Avith a solution of sulphurous acid in water over the top of the 
liquid, on which it will float. The precipitation takes place immediately, and the 
juice may be at once pumped or otherwise removed from the tank to the defecators, 
where it is heated and the scum is removed in the usual way. The principal defeca- 
tion, of course, takes place iu the tank, as already described, and a still further defe- 
cation occurs through the action of heat in the defecating vessels. From the defeca- 
tors the juice goes to the evaporators, thence to the vacuuui pans, then to the coolers 
or mixers, and finally to the centrifugal machine, the course of the juice after leaving 
the defecators being the same as it ordinarily follow^s when known processes of defe- 
cation are employed. In order to remove the sulphurous flavor of the sirup, which 
comes from the centrifugal machine, I find it advantageous to collect said sirup in a 
suitable tank provided with perforated steam pipes, through which live steam is in- 
jected into the sirup. This injection of steam is continued until the sulphur taste is 
no longer apparent. The sugar resulting from this process contains considerable of 
the natural gum, and, although quite light in color, has a small grain, and is not easy 
to purge in the centrifugal machine. It is, however, an excellent marketable prod- 
uct, and gives a high polariscopic test. 

Returning, now, to the defecated juice in the tank, I find that a somewhat better 
sugar may be produced by continuing the process in the following way: I prepare a 
Aveak solution of sulphuric acid — preferably about one volume of acid to four vol- 
umes of water. I do not limit myself to sulphuric acid, as I have found that other 
acids, notably hydrochloric and acetic acids, when in a weak solution, will accom- 
plish substantially the same result. It is desirable, however, that the strength of 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



57 



the acid solution should not be greater than is indicated by the proportions of sul- 
phuric acid and water before stated. 

This acid solution is to be added to the defecated juice in the tank preferably in 
the proportion of five hundred cubic centimeters of acid solution to one thousand 
gallons of juice. I have found this proportion to work well with sorghum juice It 
can be exceeded, probably, to a considerable extent without danger, though with no 
perceptible advantage in results. Care, however, is to be taken not to add too much 
of the acid solution , as the consequence might be to invert the sugar. The effect of 
the acid solution upon the defecated juice is to throw clown the gum, or mucilage, 
some of which is actually precipitated immediately, and all eventually, if the juice 
is allowed to stand long enough for the light flocculentmaterial to gravitate to the 
bottom. The success of the operation is at once manifested by the rising of sulphur- 
ous fumes from the juice, the odor of which is plainly perceptible. 

As the deposition of the light mucilaginous material requires some delay, it is bet- 
ter, in order to save time, to separate it out by means of a filter press of any suitable 
construction, from which the filter juice emerges clear. It will be seen that this pro- 
cess gives a cold defecation, and thus accomplishes a result of great value and im- 
portance. A slightly better grade of sugar can be made, however, by conducting the 
juice to the defecating vessels and there warming it nearly to the boiling point before 
passing it through the filter press ; but this warming of the juice is not essential to 
the production of excellent sugar by the aid of my process, as described. 

In the cold process, as I have described it, the juice parses fioni the filter presses 
directly to the vacuum pan, thus entirely dispensing with defecators and clarifiers. 
Care, however, must be taken that the filter press is properly worked, and that none 
of the scum is allowed to mingle with the juice. In the warm process the juice passes? 
as already stated, from the defecators to the filter press, and thence to the clarifiers. So 
far as the relative advantages of the two processes are concerned, the cold process 
requires greater care in operation, and produces almost if not equally as good a grade 
of sugar, and does away with defecating and clarifying vej>sels and the skilled labor 
and expenses attendant upon their use. The warm process, on the other hand, re- 
quires less care in its general operation, but involves the use of defecators and clari- 
fiers to compensate for such lack of care, and produces a grade of sugar which a very 
experienced eye only would class as of better grade than that made by the cold 
process. When treated by either process, the course of the juice after leaving the 
vacuum pan is the same as already set forth. The resulting sugar is free from gum, 
or very nearly so, and is generally of considerably better quality, both in grain, color? 
and test than that made without the use of the weak acid solution. 

An important advantage of my invention is as follows : It is well known that cane- 
juice, after being expressed, will ferment in a very short time, and inversion of the 
sugar is the result, so that it is available only for the manufacture of alcohol or x^oor 
molasses. After the juice is treated with the sulphureted lime mixture and the acid 
solution, as 1 have before described, it will remain unchanged, and no fermentation 
will take place as long as the sulphurous acid fumes continue to be emitted from it, 
whether it is exposed to the air or not. I have kept such juice exposed to the air in 
a warm room for three month thout detecting perceptible deterioration in it. 

The foregoing process I have ('escribed as I have practically applied it to the juice 
of the sorghum plant, the crop being raised in the State of New Jersey. I have 
found it to be applicable equally well to the ordinary sugar-cane and to the manu- 
facture of molasses sugars from molasses imported from the West India Islands. It 
is equally ajjplicable to the improvement of any raw sugars, these being dissolved in 
water prior to the addition of the lime mixture and acid solution. 

It will be observed from the foregoing that in the processes described the liquor 
remains acid — that is, gives an acid reaction to the test paper throughout — and in 
this respect the said processes differ materially from ordinary lime or lime and sulphur 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



processes wherein the liquor is kept ueutral. This acidity I remove, either wholly or 
in great measure, by the boiling of the liquor in the evaporators and vacuum-pans. 
I claim as my invention — 

1. The defecating compound or mixture for saccharine liquors herein particularly 
set forth, consisting of cream of lime and sulphurous acid mingled and combined till 
the said cream of lime is completely saturated with sulphurous acid, substantially as 
described. 

2. The process herein set forth of defecating saccharine liquors, consisting in adding 
to the juice the sulphureted cream of lime compound herein set forth prior to heating 
the same in defecating vessels, substantially as described. 

3. The process of defecating saccharine liquors, consisting in first adding to the 
juice the sulphureted cream of lime compound herein set forth, and, second, a dilute 
aqueous solution of acid, substantially as described. 

4. The process of defecating and clarifying saccharine liquors as herein set forth of, 
first, adding to the juice the sulphureted cream of lime compound herein set forth^ 
and afterwards a dilute aqueous solution of acid, and then filtering the juice while 
cold, substautiaily as described. 

5. The process of defecating and clarifying saccharine liquors, as herein set forth, 
consisting in, first, adding the sulphureted cream of lime compound herein set forth 
to the juice, and second, a dilute aqueous solution of acid, and then heating said juice 
in defecating vessels, and finally filtering the same, substantially as described. 

6. The method of delaying fermentation in saccharine liquors, consisting in adding 
to said liquors, first, the sulphureted cream of lime compound herein set forth, and, 
second, a dilute aqueous solution of acid, substantially as described. 

7. The process herein set forth of removing the sulphurous taste or odor of sirups 
defecated by a sulphur process, consisting in injecting live steam in said sirups, sub- 
stantially as described. 

8. The process of defecating and clarifying saccharine liquors, consisting in add- 
ing to said liquor an acid solution or solutions, whereby said liquor is rendered acid, 
and finally reiuovirg said acidity, either wholly or in great i)art by boiling the liquor, 
substantially as described. 

THE Pia PENS. 

A point of interest in the Rio Grande factory is the pig pens. The 
seed of sorghum has generally been neglected, and therefore the suc- 
cessful attempt of the Rio Grande Company to utilize it at home de- 
mands most serious attention. There is no part of this company's pos- 
sessions which excited in me a more lively interest than this plan of 
utilizing the seed and bagasse and thus returning in a great measure 
to the land the substances abstracted by the crop. 

I found in these pens in October three hundred hogs of different ages, 
some full grown and fat for the market, others newly bof n. 

These swine had never had any other food than the product of the 
cane and no other bedding beside the bagasse. They were fat and 
healthy, and the swineherd assured me that he had never lost animals 
from any of the contagious diseases so fatal to swine. 

From the experience which the company has already had they think 
that each acre of cane will furnish enough seed to fit one hog for market. 

The bagasse from the mill, which is brought out by the cars, which 
would otlierwise return empty, is thrown into the pens. By spring it is 
converted into an excellent manure which will almost be enough for one 
acre of ground for each animal. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



59 



In order to place sorghiuu culture ou a truly ecouomic basis every 
by-product must be carefully utilized, aud among these the seed is the 
most valuable. 

Before the seed is fed it is boiled until the starch granules split open 
and thus comi^lete digestion is secured. It would be extremely' wasteful 
to feed the raw seed. 

There is no reason to doubt that boiled sorghum seed would prove as 
palatable and beneficial to other animals as to swine. 

SEDIMENTS AND SCUMS. 

The sediments and scums are also saved at Rio Grande, and make a 
most valuable fertilizer. 

The sediments contain the excess of lime and the lime sulphate and any 
phosphoric acid that may have been found in the juice. The scums are 
rich in nitrogen. 

Many tons of this valuable stuff, which ought to be preserved and re- 
stored to the soil are thrown away annually throughout the country. 

ANALYSES OF SORGHUM PRODUCTS FROM RIO GRA'NDE SUGAR COMPANY, RIO GRANDE, 
CAPE MAY" COUNTY, NEW JERSEY. 

Canes selected from volunteers growing among corn, fertilized with last yearns scam. 



Nuni ber of canes 8 

Total weight kilograms. . 5. 82 

Net weight (stripped and topped) do 4. 50 

Average weight do 56 

Weight, bagasse do 1.44 

Juice expressed per cent. . 68. 00 

Specific gravity (22^ C. ) - 1. 063 

Total solids per cent. . 15.86 

Ash do 55 

Solids not sugars .- do 2. 48 

Glucose do.... 3.25 

Sucrose do 10. 63 

Canes fertilized with salt mucJc. 

Number of canes 6 

Total weight kilograms.. 4.9 

Net weight (stripped aud topped) do 3. 2 

Weight, bagasse do 1. 13 

Juice expressed per cent.. 69. 7 

Specific gravity (22° C.) 1. 078 

Total solids per cent. . 17. 78 

Ash do.-.. 1.14 

Solids not sugar .< do 3. 23 

Glucose do 1.77 

Sucrose do 12. 78 



Canes from carrier Se])temher 22, 1883. 



Number of canes 
Total weight . .. 
Weight, bagasse 



kilograms. 
do... 



25 
3. 53 
1.40 



60 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Bagasse per cent. . . 39. 80 

Juice expressed do 60.2 

Specific gravity at 22° C 1. OGO 

Total solids „ per cent . . 15. 27 

Asli do 46 

Solids not sugar do 96 

Glucose do 4. 99 

Sucrose do 9.32 

I selected these canes at th« factory, prepared them, as already de- 
scribed, for canes to be shipped by express. They were analyzed here 
on the third day after they were cut. 

Further information concerning the Eio Grande factory will be found 
in the following letter from Mr. Hughes, the superintendent, to whom 
and the president of the company, Mr. Potts, I am indebted for many 
courtesies : 

Rio Grande, N. J., December 6, 1883. 
Sir: The mill commenced grinding September 10 and stopped November 14. The 
aniount of unstripped cane ground was 6,795.811 tons. We made 282,711 pounds su- 
gar and about 55,000 gallons molasses. 

Sucrose by polariscope, average for the season per cent.. 9. 75 

Sp. gr. Baum6, average for the season degrees. . 7. 57 

Against last year's polariscope per cent.. 11.11 

Sp. gr. Baume degrees.. 7.33 

The bulk of the crop was Amber and Orange; the per cent, of juice ranged from 55 
per cent, to 40 jjer cent, on the unstripped canes ; over half the sugar being left in the 



We have two mills ; the second one was not properly rigged up. 

Being afraid the cane would get over ripe, as it has always done before, we planted 
later than usual. The season turned out very wet and cold. The Orange did not 
ripen until October 29, except in those fields where phosphoric acid was put in the 
hill. A storm in September prostrated the Amber. For these two reasons we had 
bad cane from September 24 to October 29. During this time no pan failed to granu- 
late, but the yield of sugar was poor. From October 29 until the end of the season, 
the cane was first rate. The extreme low price of sugar, and the high price of choice 
New Orleans molasses caused us to make a better sirup than Ave would ordinarily 
iiavedone. In this \vay over 100,000 pounds of sugar was allowed to go into the mo- 
lasses simply because this year it paid to do it. 
Yours, truly, 

H. A. HUGHES, 
General Manager Bio Grande Sugar Company. 

Prof. H. W. Wiley. 



Table of data derived from preceding letter. 



Acres (about) 1,000 

Tons 6,795 

Tons per acre 6. 795 

Pounds sugar made 282, 711 

Pounds sugar per ton . 41. 6 

Gallons molasses 55, 000 

Gallons molasses per ton 8. 09 

Average per cent, of sugar in juice 9. 75 

Average per cent, of juice expressed 47. 00 



NORTHEKN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 61 

The total value of sugar produced at 7 cents per pound was *|19, 789. 77 

Add bounty 1 cent per pound $2, 827. 11 

Value of molasses, at 42 cents per gallon |23, 100. 00 

Bounty on cane ($1 per ton) $6, 795. 00 



$52,511.88 

Value per acre (circa) $50. 00 



OPERATIONS AT CHAMPAIGN, ILL. 

The campaign of 1883 was the second one for this company. 

The method of planting and cnltivation was a simple one, and with 
the exception of some special attention given the young plant with the 
hoe, was the same as is used in raising Indian corn. 

The company does not cultivate a large crop of its own, but buys of 
surrounding farmers. 

The soil around Champaign is a black prairie loam. 

The season was cold and wet, and the early September frosts greatly 
injured the crop. 

The company made an interesting experiment during the working 
season in burning the bagasse directly from the second mill. 

Special furnaces were constructed for the purpose, with blast and tall 
chimney to favor rapid combustion. The bagasse in passing to the sup- 
plemental mill is saturated with steam and hot water. It reaches the 
furnaces, therefore, still wet, probably containing nearly half its weight 
of water. There are grave difficulties connected with burning such a 
fuel which even the most ingenious construction of a furnace will hardly 
overcome. 

The saving of fuel by burning the bagasse is estimated by the super- 
intendent at 25 per cent. 

Experiments in other parts of the country, notably in Kansas, have 
shown that well sun-dried bagasse is more than sufficient fuel for evap- 
oration. It is therefore, seen that fully 75 per cent, of the value of the 
bagasse is lost in burning it wet. 

It is yet an open question whether it is sounder economy to burn the 
bagasse, as at Champaign, or to return it to the soil, as at Rio Grande. 

On principle I would be in favor of the latter proceeding. I believe 
a soil needs the same careful feeding and the same careful attention 
that a wise farmer gives to his horses and cattle. Peuuriousness is al- 
ways reprehensible, and in farming especially when it is exercised 
toward the soil. The earth is patient. It will allow itself to be robbed 
for many years without complaint. Sooner or later, however, it will 
refuse to do more, no matter how much it is urged. 

The wisdom of burning bagasse depends on a great many local con- 
siderations. In localities where fuel is scarce and the laud fertile it 
will evidently be more advantageous to burn the bagasse than where 
coal is abundant and the soil poor. 

* These figures are my own estimates, and have not been revised by the officers of 
the company 



62 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Again it must be remembered tliat to burn the bagasse from the mill 
successfnllj^, costly furuaces and apparatus have to be constructed. 

This will add a considerable item to the bill expenses. 

Even with such appliances the amount of other fuel required is not 
greatly less than in ordinary furnaces. 

I am not quite prepared to believe that sorghum will furnish the fuel 
to boil its juices unless the bagasse is first carefully dried. 

I therefore await with interest the results of several years experience 
with bagasse burners. Like all other problems in sorghum culture and 
manufacture, it would be decidedly unwise to determine them from a 
single season's work. 

METHOD OF MANUFACTURE AT CHAMPAION, ILL. 

The Champaign Comx)auy uses the Weber and Scovell patent. The 
essential features of this method are as follows : 

1. The additiOD of lime to the expressed juice until the free acids are 
completely neutralized. 

2. The further defecation of the juice by heat and its concentration, 
after removal of scums and sediments, to a semi-sirup of 200-25^ B. 

3. The filtration of this sirup through bone-black to remove imimri- 
ties and whiten the sugar. 

The operations in the vacuum pan, the crystallizing room, and at the 
centrifugals are the same as at other factories. 

This process makes a beautiful and pure sugar, which is fit for the 
table without any further refining. In fact, the refining takes place 
during the process of manufacture. 

The radical difference between this and the Hughes process is at once 
apparent, and proves that there is more than one way to make sor- 
ghum sugar. 

Prof. H. A. Weber, the manager of the Champaign works kindly 
furnished me with the following information i/i answer to questions the 
nature of which appears from his replies : 

Champaign, III., December 15, 18b3. 
Dear Sir : In comi)liance with your letter of November 15, I have the honor to 
suhniit the following answers to the qnestious asked : 

1. The whole amount of cane worked this season was 4,660 tons, about half of 
which was stripped ; the rest was crushed with the leaves. 

2. About 60 per cent, of the juice was expressed. 
Double milling; was employed. 

3. Nuiiil)(!r of pounds of sugar made, 160,000. 

4. Nniiiber of gallons of molasses made, 35,000. 

5. TIh' averjige com})osition of the juice worked this year,' was as follows: Specilic 
gravity 8-^ B. ^ 1.0591 ; cane sugar, 7.78 per cent. ; grape sugar, 4.76 per cent. 

It mtiy be well to state that the inferiority of the juice was due to a heavy frost on 
September 8 and 9, which killed the leaves of the greater part of our cane. This had 
the same effect upon the cane that stripping and allowing to stand would have had. 
The quality of the cane deteriorated from that date until it was w<»rked up. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



63 



6. The best varieties of cane for our climate are Early Amber and Early Orange, 

7. The average length of working season with us is about sixty days. 

8. If the last two seasons were average seasons for our section of the country, I 
think there is no doubt that we are entirely too far north for the successful man- 
ufacture of sugar. But compared with the past these two seasons must be regarded 
as quite abnormal, and if the climatic conditions previous to 1882 should obtain, I 
think it would be safe, for the West at least, to place the northern limit of successful 
sugar manufacturing as far north as the latitude of Chicago. 

Very respectfully, 

H. A. WEBER. 

Prof. H. W. Wiley, 

Washington, D. C. 

Professor Weber Bias also made some interesting experiments in re- 
moving the beads from the sorghnm stalks as soon as they appear. In 
all cases this procedure produced an increase in the sugars in the cane — 
sensibly equal to the quantity of starch which would have been formed 
had the heads ripened. 

This experiment, both as it relates to increase of sugar and to the 
securing of the crop from the ravages of storms, is one of the greatest 
importance to the future of this industry. 

EXPERIMENTS IN KANSAS. 

HUTCHINSON, KANS. 

The sugar works at Hutchinson, under the supei vision of Prof. M. 
Swenson, made, during the season of Ic'-SS, 131,000 pouuds of sugar and 
30,000 gallons of molasses. 

The soil in this part of Kansas, near the Arkansas River, is a sandy 
loam, with a preponderance of sand. This excess of sand is so marked 
that in some fields it is quite impracticable to plant sorghum until after 
the season of spring winds has passed. The winds blow the sand with 
such force that it acts like a sand-blast on the young plants, cutting them 
off even with the ground. 

The summers and falls are generally dry. The soil, however, is so 
loose that the roots of the plant grow deep. In one instance I was .in- 
formed of a tap root having been traced to the depth of 10 feet. 

By reason of this depth of root the plant does not suffer greatly from 
the drought. 

The dry weather of the fall season is peculiarly favorable to manu- 
facture, and to drying the bagasse for fuel. 

I append a table of analyses of sorghum products made under the di- 
rection of Professor Swenson. 

This table shows that ripe cane in Kan.^as may be expected to contain 
more than 10 per cent, of sucrose. 



64 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Copy of record of analyses of sorghum made at Hutchinson, Kans., duriny season of 1883, 
iy Prof. Magnus Sicenson, chemist of Kansas Sugar Eefining Company. 

AMBER. 



Date. 



Aug. 



10 

10 

10 

11 

11 

12 

12 

13 

U 

14 

14 

14 

14 

14 

15.... ' -. .. 

1.5 

16 

16 

16 

16 

17 

17 

17 

17 

17 

17 

17 

17 

17. 

17 

17 

17 

17 

17 

19 Heavy rain 

20 

20 

20 

20 

20 

20 



Specific 
gravity. 



20. 
20 
20. 
21 
21. 
21. 
21 
23 
23. 
25. 
25 
27. 
28. 
31. 
31 
31. 

Sept. 1. 

i 1. 
1. 
1 

8. 
12. 
14. 
18. 
18. 



1. 0460 
1. 0420 
1. 0493 
1. 0470 



1. 0475 
1. 0464 
1. 0476 
1. 0570 
1 . 0567 
1. 0447 
1. 0564 
1. 0674 
1. 0517 
1. 0578 
1. 0570 
1. 0570 
1. 0622 
1. 0000 
1. 0000 



1. 0544 
1. 0560 
1. 0590 
1. 0637 
1. 0625 
1. 0595 
1. 0665 
1. 0640 
1. 0580 
1. 0520 
1. 0590 
1. 0620 
1. 0640 
1. 0594 

1. 0440 
1.0.560 I 
1.0577 I 
1. 0594 I 
1.0573 ' 
1.0614>I 
1.06175 
1.0610 
1.0617 
1. 0463 
1. 0505 
1. 0592 
1. 0505 
1. 0627 
1. 0703 
1. 0620 



Deg. 
Brix. 



Percent, 
glucose. 



Per cent 
sncrose. 



I Per cent, 
other 
solids. 



State of seed. 



1. 0.592 
1. 0505 
1. 0550 
1. 0666 
1. ( 625 
1 . 0780 
1. 0670 



1.0829 
1.0700 ! 
1.0660 ! 
1. 055 1 



11.4 
10.5 
12.2 
11.6 

13. 
11.7 
15.6 
11.7 
14.0 
14.0 
10. 8 

14. 
16.3 
12.6 
14.2 
14.0 
14.0 
15.2 
13.0 
14.5 
15.0 
12.2 
13.4 
13.7 
14.4 
15.5 
15.3 
14.6 
16.2 
15.6 
14.2 
12.8 
14.4 
14.7 
15.6 
14.5 

10.8 
13.7 
14.2 
14.6 
14.1 

15.0 

14.9 
15.1 
11.5 
, 12.5 
14.5 

12. 5 
15.4 
17. 1 

15. 2 
13.5 
14.0 
14.6 
12.5 

13. 5 
16.3 
15. 3 
18.8 
16.3 
15.6 
17.3 
20.0 
17.0 
16.0 
13.5 
15.5 
15. 



1.6 

O A 

9 7 
O. 1 








. 9 

£i. y 






2.9 
2.7 

2 9 
2 8 

Q 
6. 


7.2 
7.3 
6 8 
9 
o. u 

ft Q 


1.6 
5.6 

Z. U 

9 9 
9 9 
1 Q 


1 
Z. 1 

Q 9 
O. O 

Z. i> 
2. 3 

1 q 

2 3 




9 Q 
Z. 










Q (\ 

y. u 

10 9 


9 7 

2 4 


3^3 


















2 5 

ii. 


8 3 
8 4 


9 ft 
Z. D 

9 U 
Z. O 


































































































1 






i 



















1.7 

2.5 
3.1 


8. 1 

9. 8 
6.3 


2. 7 
2.2 
3.1 


i 2.8 
1 3.8 
3.3 
3.4 
8.4 
2.9 
3.1 
3. 1 
3.2 

1 3.0 


13. 5 
9.7 
8.5 
9.0 
9.3 
8.0 
8.6 
11. 3 
11.1 
14.1 


.8 
1.7 
1.7 
1.6 
1.9 
1.6 
1.8 
1.9 
1.0 
1.7 








3.2 
4.2 
4.0 
2.9 

1 2.0 
2.8 
2.6 










10.2 
11.5 


2.8 
1.6 


11.8 
11.4 


1.0 
1.0 



Milk. 
Milk. 



Flower. 

Milk. 

Hard. 

Soft. 

Hard. 

Soft. 

Soft, hard. 

Flower. 

Soft. 

Hard. 

Hard. 

Medium. 

Soft. 

Medium. 

Hard. 

Medium. 

Hard. 

Medium. 

Hard. 

Medium. 

Hard. 

Medium. 

Hard. 

Soft. 

Hard. 

Hard. 

Milk. 

C Hard, 

\ Soft. 

Hard. 

Milk. 

Sod flower. 

Hard. 

Hard. 

Flower. 

Hard. 

Select. 

Ripe. 

Average of load. 
Average of load. 



Hard. 
Hard. 
Hard. 
Select. 
Hard. 



Three days in yard. 
Defecated juice. 
Defecated juice. 

Defecated juice. 
Defecated juice. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Copy of record of analyses of sorghum made at Hutchinson, Kans.,4^c. — Continued. 

MIXED FROM MILL. 



Date. 



Specific 
gravity. 



Deg. 
brix. 



Per cent. Per cent, 
glucose, sucrose. 



Per cent, 
other 
solids. 



State of seed. 



Oct. 



1. 0548 



16.5 
16.5 
16.0 
17.5 
15.0 
16.5 
15.0 
13.5 
14. 5 
16.0 
14.5 
16.0 
16. 5 



2.6 
2.9 
2.8 
4.0 
5.4 
4.5 
3.0 
3.5 
2. 9 
2.7 
2.3 
3.7 
3.2 



11.8 
11.9 
11.9 



8.5 
10.5 
1L7 

9.3 
10.7 
12.0 
10.4 
12.6 
11.7 



2.1 
1. 7 
1.3 



1.1 
1.5 



0.7 
0. 9 
1.3 
1.8 



ORAI^GE CANE. 



Date. 



Specific 
gravity. 



Deg. 
Brix. 



Per cent, 
glucose. 



Per cent, 
sucrose. 



Per cent, 
other 
solids. 



State of seed. 



Aug. 12. 
13 
15 
21. 
18. 
18. 
18. 
21. 
21 
21. 
21 
21. 
22. 
22. 
22. 
23. 
23. 
23 
23. 
23. 
23. 
27. 
27. 
27. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
31. 
Sept. 1. 

1. 

1. 
14. 
14. 
14. 
19 
19 
19 
19 
20 



1. 0324 
1. 0360 
L0416 
1. 0387 



1. 0487 
1. 0434 
1.0447 
1. 0270 
1. 0480 
1. 0545 
1. 0509 
1. 0665 
1. 0503 
1. 0620 
1. 0696 
1. 0430 
1. 0489 
1. 0430 



1. 0444 
1. 0500 



0454 
0577 
0540 



0500 



1. 0540 
1. 0650 



3. 5 
4.0 



4.7 
3.8 
4.2 
4.3 
3.7 
4.7 
3.7 
4.3 
3.4 



3.8 



2.6 
4.6 



4.0 



2.2 
4.5 



6.7 
7.2 

10.2 
6.1 
9.7 

11.1 
6. 
6.2 
6.4 
9.0 
5.4 



13.5 
10.3 



2.0 
1.6 
1.9 
2.0 
1.8 
1. 1 
1.0 
1.5 
0.9 
1.9 
1.8 



1. 5 



1.9 
0.9 
1.8 
2.2 
L5 
2.1 



Milk. 

Hard. 

Hard. 

Heading. 

Hard 

Milk. 



Ripe. 
Soft. 



Soft. 



Milk. 

Soft dough. 
Av. of load. 



LINK'S HYBRID. 



Date. 


Specific 
gravity. 


Deg. 
brix. 


Per cent, 
glucose. 


Per cent, 
sucrose. 


Per cent, 
other 
solids. 


State of seed. 


Aug. 18. 


1. 0305 
1. 0480 
1. 0471 
1. 0567 
1. 0550 

1. 0830 


8.1 

1L9 
1L7 
13.9 
13.6 
14.5 
19.0 








Hard. 


21 , 








23 

27 


2.1 


8 


1.6 


Sept. 1 

12 

20 


4.1 

1.5 
0.8 


8.1 

9.8 
15.4 


1.4 
3.2 
2.8 



16435 N S 5 



66 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY, 

Copy of record of analyses of sorghum made at Hutchinson, Eans., 4^c. — Contiuned. 



HONDURAS. 



Date. 


Specific 
gravity. 


Deg. 
Biix. 


Per cent, 
glucose. 


Per cent, 
sucrose. 


Per cent, 
other 
sugars. 


State of seed. 


Sept. 1 

Oct. 2 


1. 0677 
1. 0560 


16.4 
14.0 


3.6 
3.2 


10.8 
9.5 


2.0 
1.3 





STERLING, KANS. 

This i'aatOYj was under the supervision of Professor Scovell, and was 
operated exactlj^ as the factory at Champaign, 111. The soil and climate 
are the same as at Hutchinson. 

The amount of sugar made was 136,000 pounds ; of molasses, 35,000 
gallons. 

Unfortunately I cannot get any exact data in respect of the yield of 
cane per acre and of sugar per ton in Kansas, because much of the 
cane was worked without weighing. 

The most reliable estimates place the yield of Amber cane at 9.5 tons 
and that of Orange at 12 tons per acre. 

I am disposed, to believe, however, from experience, that estimated 
yields are generally too high. The following communication from the 
special agent of this Department for Kansas (who also furnished the 
statistical tables for the State) will be found of interest: 

AVERAGE YIELD OF CANE. 

It is difficult to ascertain the exact average yield because a large number of produ- 
cers do not weigh their product The average of crops weighed are for topped cane 
with blades on, Amber cane, per acre, 9.50 tons ; Orange cane, 12 tons. 

The estimates of growers who have not weighed their cane are usually 15 to 25 per 
cent, above these figures. 

A remarkable case illustrating the value of irrigation was that of J. E. Crane of 
Kinsley, who produced 42 acres of Amber cane. The entire 42 acres received exactly 
the same treatment except that 30 acres were irrigated with water drawn in a canal 
from the Arkansas River, while the remaining 12 acres were not irrigated. The cane 
was cut, topi)ed, and sold to Hon. John Benny worth, and by him made into sirup. The 
yield was as follows: not irrigated, 12 acres, 10 tons per acre, 120 tons; irrigated,' 30 
acres, 17 tons per acre, 510 tons. 

Mr. Crane states that the expense of irrigating was: 

Water rent per acre, $1 ; labor of applying water per acre, 50 cents. Total per acre, 
^1.50. Ouly one application was made. This irrigated cane is reported to have 
yielded an unusually rich juice. 

If further investigation and furture cultivation shall confirm the experience of Mr. 
Crane, a most important development awaits such portion of the western third of 
Kansas as can be cheaply irrigated, and the sugar industry may be largely developed 
in a section not well adapted to the production of standard cereals. 
Respectfully, 

E. B. COWGILL, 
Agent for Collection of Information of the Sorghum Industry of Kansas. 
Hon. Geo. B. Loring, 

Commissioner of Agriculture. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



67 



Analyses of cane juice. 
Copy of report of Prof. M. A. Scovell, cliemist of Kansas Sugar Company, Sterling, Kans 



Specific gravity. 


c 

c 

c 

5 


o 
c 


Solids not sugar. 


Eemarks. ' 




Fer 


Per 


Per 






cent. 


cent. 


cent. 




1.0566 


3. 70 


7. 42 


2. 78 




1. 0583 


3 55 


8 56 


2. 11 




1. 0502 


5. 11 


4. 81 


2. 48 




1.0570 


3. 93 


7. 21 


2. 86 




1. 0286 




1. 56 


1.67 




1. 0587 


4. 72 


7. 09 


2. 59 




1. 0536 


3. 2/ 


7. 49 


2. 34 


oauie as August 8, but 










two days older. 


1.0536 


3. 34 


7. 43 


2. 32 


Shoi't stalks selected on 










account of appearing 










riper. G-reater milk at 










field longer but not so 


1. 0609 


4. li 


(. 97 


2. 75 


ripe. 

Average at field taller 










tlian preceding, but 










not so ripe. 


1. 0626 


o. 76 


8. o4 


3. 20 


Same as preceding, two 










days later. 


1. 0447 


5. 11 


3. 60 


4. 28 


Cut 13tli, analyzed 14th ; 










stalks dry and mucli 










wUted. 


1. 0643 


7. 98 


4. 55 


3. 17 


Cut 13th, analyzed 14th ; 










cane green and much 










wilted. 


1. 0570 


4. 00 


7. 49 


2. 59 




1. 0604 


4. 09 


7.94 


2. 77 


Cut 13th. analyzed 14th. 


1. 0485 


3. 98 


6. 27 


1. 75 


Supposed volunteer 


1. 0510 


5. h3 


7. 92 


2.' 75 


cane. 


1. 0604 


4. 21 


8. 35 


2. 24 




1. 0617 


3. 76 


8. 58 


'I 76 


Same field as Aug, 11. 


1. 0570 


3. 33 


7. 92 


2. 75 


Same as preceding. 


1. 3970 


3. 93 


4. 18 


5. 55 






3. 72 


6. 68 


3.30 




1. 0643 


3. 64 


9. 55 


2. 51 


liipest stalks only an- 










alyzed. 


1. 0617 


3. 67 


8. 76 


2. 67 




1. 0570 


3. 31 


8. 01 


2. 68 




1. 0426 


4. 24 


3. 89 


2. 47 


Dour stalKS weighed 










7.5 pounds; gave four 










pound juice ; smallest 










diameter largest 1§ 










inch. 


. 1. 0674 


2. 60 


11. 42 


2. 38 


Smallest diameter 5, 










largest f inch. 


1. 0493 


3. 32 


6. 27 


2. 61 


Diameter 1^ inch. 


1. 0548 


3. 03 


7. 07 


3. 40 


Diameter f inch. 


1. 0604 


3 09 


9 16 


1.75 


Otlti Villi "fn tpTl 


1. 0502 


2^01 


7. 03 


3.35 




1.0405 


2. 97 


4. 61 


2. 52 




1. 0713 


2. 75 


10. 97 


3. 76 




1 1.0674 


3. 56 


10. 10 


2.74 




i 1.0480 


5. 35 


2. 84 


2.71 


Two stalks weighed 3.5 


i 








pounds ; luice weighed 










1.5 pounds. 


1.0770 


2. 87 


11. 97 


3. 76 


Cut22d; analvzed 23d. 


1.0753 


4. 30 


10. 04 


3. 86 


Do. 


1.0578 


6. 30 


2. 94 


4. 96 




1 1.0704 


3. 25 


10. 52 


3.33 


One hill. 



Date. Variety of cane. 



Earlv Amber. 
..-.do 



-do 

-do 



.-..do 
.-..do 



do 



-do 



13 I-. ..do 



....do ... 
....do ... 



.. do 
...do 
...do 
...do 
...do 
...do 
...do 

...do 

..do 
...do 



State of development. 



Seeds in milk 

Seeds forming at top of 

panicle, glumes just 

beginnin^g to turn. 

Panicle in blossom 

Seeds in milk, glumes 

beginning to turn. 

Just heading 

Seeds just beginning 

to be milky. 
Seeds in milk 



Some seeds just form- 
ing. 

Barelv out of blossom, 1. 0643 



Cane in blossom 

Just forming seed 



Seeds in milky dough. 
Seeds in softening 

dough. 
Cane very green ; not 
blossomed. 

Seed just forming 

Seed almost in harden- 
ing dough ; glumes 
quite dark. 



"Wabaunsee... Just in blossom 



20 Amber 

20 Early Orange. 

20 i Wabaunsee . . . 

21 i Amber 

21 Links Hybrid 

22 Orange 

22 Amber 

22 ....do 

23 Orange 



23 


Amber 


28 


....do 


23 


Orange 


23 


Amber 



Seed in hardening 

dough. 
Head not above the 

top leaf. 
Seeds in soft dough. . 

do 

Just headed- 

do 

Hardening dough 

do 

Just headed i 1. 0480 



Hardening dough. 

do 

Just headed \ 1. 057J 



in milk; one head 
green seed in milk ; 
one head just in 
blossom. 



68 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
Analyses of cane juice — ^Continued. 



Yaiiety. j State of development. 

I 



Kemarks. 



Red Liberian . 

East India 
from Link. 

Amber , 

Link, East 
India. 

Amber 

Unknown 

Amber 

....do 



Just beaded; 

blossom. 
do 



not in j 1.0540 



Per 
cent. 
4. 10 



L0557 ! 3.15 



Hardening dougb 1.0682 j 3. 



1. 0596 



-...do 

.--.do 

Wabaunsee -- 
Link's Hybrid 



Amber 
...do 
Orange 



27 i Amber. 



....do 

....do 



27 ....do.. 
27 ....do., 
.-.do .. 
Orange 
...do -. 
.- do-. 
...do.. 



Just beaded. 

milk. I I 

Hardening dougb i 1.0656 j 

Just in blossom : 1. 0472 | 

Soft dough I 1.0634 j 

Some seed in bard, ; 1. 0443 ; 

soft, and milk dough, j \ 

Hardening dough i 

do ! 

J ust in blossom i 

Seed just beginning to j 

form. j 

I 1. 0704 

In thick milk 1. 0665 

Just headed I 1. 0570 

Seed of top glumes I 1. 0634 

hard dough. Seed i 

base glumes soft 

dough. 

Nearly ripe | 1. 0626 

Two stalks in milk. | 1.0587 
Two stalks in bios 



1. 0609 
1. 0691 
1. 0481 
1. 0540 



Hard dough 

do 

Harflening dough . 
Eipe 



... do 
--..do 
-..do 



1. 0674 
1. 0704 
1. 0722 
1. 0590 
1. 0591 
1. 0590 
1. 0557 



4.00 
9. 35 
8. 10 
2. 99 

2. 68 
2.74 
7.22 
2. 66 

3. 15 
7. 50 
2. 81 
2. 21 



2. 20 
4.87 



3. 20 
3. 26 
2. 84 
2. 24 
2. 29 
2. 45 
1.94 



1. 0540 2. 84 
1.0540 3.31 
1.0540 3.70 



Per 
cent. 



10. 26 
8. 87 

8. 83 
0. 14 
3. 92 
7. 67 

9.73 
10.97 
0. 72 

5. 96 

10.54 

6. 55 

7. 79 
10. 22 



10. 00 
5. 28 



9. 43 
10. 68 
10. 62 
8. 81 
8. 50 
8. 50 
7.88 



Per 
cent. 
2.84 

4.46 



3. 61 

2. 70 

3. 40 
3. 07 



3. 20 

4. 25 



3. 77 
3. 16 

4. 04 
3. 45 
3. 71 
3. 55 
3. 88 



2. 97 
2. 89 
3. 11 



Cut short heads very 

green. 
One hiU. 

Stood 36 hours. 
One hill. 

Do. 

Do. 

Stood one day. 
Average of field. 



Six days after a freezing 
frost. Juice from the 
crusher. 

Twelve days after the 
freeze, and after four 
days of rain and an- 
other freeze. 

Same as preceding but 
one day later. 



Copy of report of G. H. Failyer, professor of chemistry in Kansas State Agricultural Col- 
lege, at Manhattan. 



EARLY AMBER CANE. 



Date. 



Condition of cane. 



1883. 
Aug. 29 
30 

Sept. 1 
4 
8 
13 
17 
24 

Oct. 2 



Seed in stiff dough j 

Seed hardening dough. 

Seed dry. but easily split 

Seed split with some difficulty 

Split with difficulty 

Seed hard and dry 

Seed entirely dry 

Seed shell out easily 

do 



6.5 I 6.280 1.047 3.324 

7. 2 i 6. 840 1. 140 3. 770 

6.5 6. 806' 1.135 3.074 

7. 3 I 6. 119' 1. 020l 3. 186 

6. I 5. 965 0. 994 3. 291 
7.4 6.972 1. IO2I 3.465 

7. 5 ' 6. 396 1. 066: 3. 059 47. 53 

6. 4 6. 3.55 1. 059 3. 080 48. 46| 

7. 5 6. 051 1. 009 3. Ill: 51. 25 



52. 77! 
55. 12 
45. 17 
52. 05 
55. 17 
49. 70 



L 062 
L 060 
L 063 
1.059 
1. 065 



ft 

m 



14. 42 

14. 41 

15.54 
14.21 

15. 46 
1.066; 15.85 
1.066 1.5.481 
L 069 16.38 a 
1. 0701 16. 421 I 



2. 19 
2. 12 
1. 13 
2. 03 



26 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



69 



Copy of report of G. H. Failyer, professor of cliemistry, ^c. — Continued. 
LINK'S HYBRID CANE. 



Date. 


Condition of cane. 


Average height, 
feet. 


Total weight. 


Average weight. 


Weight of juices. 


Per cent, of juice. 


Specific gravity. 


Total solids, per 
cent. 


Glucose, per cent. 


Sucrose, per cent. 


Solids not sugar, 
per cent. 


1883. 
























Aug. 29 




5.3 


5. 130 


.855 


2. 677 


52.18 


1. 048 


11.32 


3. 18 


6. 21 


1. 93 


30 


Seed hardening dough 


6.1 


5. 560 


.927 


2. 673 


48. 07 


1.052 


12. 51 


3. 08 


7. 44 


1.99 


Sept. 1 


Seed dry, but easily split 


5.2 


4. 396 


.733 


1. 885 


42. 88 


].046 


11. 14 


1.81? 


6. 28 


3. 05 


4 


Seed split with some difficulty 


5.7 


5. 572 


.919 


2. 680 


48.64 


1. 046 


10. 92 


3.01 


6.31 


1. 60 


10 


Split with difficulty 


4.8 


4. 554 


.756 


2. 388 


52. 67 


1. 040 


9. 36 


2. 99 


3. 98 


2. 39 


13 


Seed hard and dry 


6.3 


4. 468 


.745 


2. 220 


49. 66 


1.048 


11. 48 


2. 91 


6. 57 


2. 00 



KANSAS CHANGE CANE. 



Seed in stiff dough 

Seed in hardening dough 

Seed dry, but easily split 

Seed hard and split with diffi- 
culty. 



6.1 
6.0 
6.7 



10.1 



8. 763 
7. 355 



1.766 5.711 

1.899 4.924 

1.753 4.595 

1.839 3.853 



53. 88 
51.81 
52. 43 
52. 42 



1. 062 
1. 066 
1. 056 
1. 061 



15. 13 
14. 78 
15.16 
14.57 



1.74 
0. 56 
0. 75 
1. 18 



HONDURAS CANE. 



Oct. 8. 


Seed in hardening dough... 


8. 1 


5. 955 


1.985 3.417 57.38 

1 1 


1. 061 


3.29 


9. 76 





Meteorological.^ 



Date. 


Temper- 
ature. 


Remarks. 


Date. 


Temper- 
ature. 


Remarks. 










op. 




April 17 


60 


Cloudy, high wind. 


May 29 


68^78 


Slight rain ; heavy rain in the 


20 


60 


Heavy rain during night. 




evening. 


21 


56 


Terrible -v^ind storm; tem- 
perature raised to 75°. 


30 


52 


Heavy rain all night. 






31 


'70 


22 


54 


June 1 


72-83 


Heavy showers through the 


27 


58-64 


Light rain in afternoon ; hard 






night. 






rain at night. 


2 


64 


28 


57-70 


First cane appeared. 


3 


57-80 




29 


58-60 


Light rain during night. 


4 


68-78 


Light shower 5 to 7 a. m. 


30 


56-66 


5 


74-80 




May 1 


64-88-92 


High south wind. 


6 


78-80 


Heavy thunder shower. 


2 


64-82 


Slight rain, with hail. 


7 


78-84 


3 


56-72 


8 


78 


Rained aU night. 


4 


60-70 




9 


62 


Rain. 


5 


60 




10 


80 


Heavy thunder storm. 


6 


76-84 




11 


70 


High winds. 


7 


72-84 




12 


66 


8 


72-86 


Very high wind and rain. 


13 


62-85 




9 


62 


Do. 


14 


63-80 




10 


64 




15 


77-95 




11 


56-68 




16 


82-95 




12 


68-76 


Heavy rain in the night. 


17 


82-93 




13 


70-76 


18 


76-95 


Threatening rain, very close. 


14 


56-74 




19 


80-97 


15 


60-76 




20 


80-103 




16 


66-60 


Heavy rain. 


21 


82-103 


High south wind. 


17 


66-75 


Do. 


22 


82-102 


18 


64-76 




23 


82-97 




19 


62 


Rain. 


24 


90-96 


Heavy rain. 


20 


60 




25 


78-90 


21 


■ 52-70 




26 


76-89 




22 


60-76 




27 


76-88 


Cane 3 feet high. 


23 


62 


Very high south wind ; sand 
storm cut off 100 acres cane. 


28 
29 


76-102 
68-105 




24 


72-90 


Very heavy rain. 


30 


80-100 




25 


70-78 


July 1 


78-95 




26 


62-78 




2 


80-102 




27 
28 


68-80 
68 


No wind all day . 


3 


80-98 





* Record of Prof. M. Swenson, Chemist Kansas Sugar Company, Hutchinson, Kansas. 



70 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 

Meteorological — Continued. 



[Record of Prof. M. Swenson, chemist of Kansas Siigar Eefining Company, &c. — Continued.] 



' Date. 


Temper- 
ature. 


Remarks. 


Date. 


Temper- 
ature. 


Remarks. 


July 4 


80-97 




i « 

Aug. 12 


90 




5 


79-93 




13 


95 




6 


77 


Heavy rain. 


14 


85-100 




7 


68-80 


15 


80 


Heavy rain and wind ; slight 


8 


72-83 








injury to cane. 


9 


72-90 




• 16 


82-97 


10 


76-92 




17 


81 




11 


100 




18 


78-96 




12 


82-104 


Sliglit shower. 


19 


80 




13 


82-94 


Slight rain through night. 


20 


76 


Rain in the night. 


14 


78 


Slight shower. 


21 


77 


15 


80 


22 


72 




16 


80 




23 


68-80 




17 


76 


Slight rain. 


24 


70-80 




18 


78-95 


25 


74 




19 


80-95 


High winds. 


26 


80-95 




20 


80-95 


Do. 


27 


64 




21 


82-93 




28 


74 




22 




Still warm. 


29 


72-85 




23 




Do. 


30 


72 




24 




Do. 


31 


73 


High winds. 


25 




Do. 


Sept. 1 


75 


26 


104 


Heavy rain. 


2 


73 




27 


80 




3 


74 


C/Ommenced crushing in tn© 


28 


75-90 








afternoon. 


30 


70-72 




4 


78-95 




31 


67 


Clear and hot. 


5 


70 




Aug. 1 


78-90 


Heavy rain. 


6 


78 




2 


78 




7 


77 




3 


68-76 




8 


62-86 




4 


68 


Rain. 


9 


56 




5 


68 


Hard rain. 


10 


60 


Light shower. 


6 
7 


76 
79 


Slight rain. 


n 

13 


70 


Started centrifugals. 


8 


82 




14 






9 


90 


Slight rain in night. 


15 






10 


100 


Heavy shower at night. 


16 






11 


100 


17 


50 





The following table of Kansas meteorology is compiled from the United 
States signal reports from Leavenworth, Lawrence, Hoi ton, Topeka, 
Yates Center, Independence, Wellington, and Dodge City, and from the 
reports of the State Agricultural College at Manhattan, and of the State 
Normal School at Emporia : 



Meteorology of Kansas, 1883. 
TEMPERATURE. 





Lawrence. 




Topeka. 


Dodge City. 






















Month. 






















Mean. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


Max, 


Min. 


Mean. 


Max. 


Min. 






°F. 


°F. 


°F. 


°F. 


OF. 


°F. 


°F. 


°F. 




19.6 


47.0 


-14 


17.8 


47.0 


-21 


22.1 


59.0 


-20 




27.9 


67.0 


-13 


2.5.7 


65.0 


-21 


26.2 


67.0 


-20 




40.9 


69.0 


16.0 


39.4 


79.0 


9.0 


40.8 


72.0 


15.0 




57.2 


90.0 


35. 


56.3 


84.0 


28.0 


53.0 


85.0 


29.0 


May 


62.0 


91.0 


39. 


62.0 


90.0 


44.0 


60.5 


88.0 


35.0 




71.4 


94.0 


48. 


(*) 


9.5.0 


56.0 


70.5 


97.0 


48.0 


July 


(*) 


(*) 




78.0 


99.0 


63.0 


76.2 


99.0 


56.0 




72.0 


92.0 


52.0 


73.5 


95.0 


54.0 


71.7 


92.0 


53.0 


September 


63.5 


91. 


46.0 


61. 


94.0 


47.0 


64. 1 


97.0 


39.5 


October 


52.7 


87.0 


32.0 


53.5 


86.0 


25.0 


50.8 


90.0 


26.0 


liovember 


42.8 


74.0 


14.0 


r) 


74.0 


13.0 


41.8 


73.0 


14.0 


December 


33.7 


63.0 


35.0 


33.1 


73.0 


zero. 


34.8 


67.0 


2.0 


Means 














51.0 

























* No record. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
PRECIPITATION. 



71 



Month. 



Lawrence. 



Topeka. 



January. .. 
February. . 

March 

April 

May 

June - 

July.f 

August 

September 
October 
November . 
December 



Totals . 



Inches. 
0. 73 



12 
1.25 
6. 75 
0. 73 
0. 77 



Inches. 
0. 50 
3.10 
0. 81 
1.60 

6. 42 

7. 05 
6. 52 
4. 17 
0. 88 
6. 14 
0. 81 



No record. 



The following historical notice of the development of the industry in 
the West is a fitting appendix to the review of the present condition 
of the sugar interest in Kansas, which has just been given : 

HISTORY OF SORGHUM CULTURE IN KANSAS. 

The following paper was read by Hon. F. G. Adams before the Kan- 
.sas State Sorghum Growers' Association, Fel)ruary 14, 1884: 

The history of sorghum culture in the United States corresponds, in j)oint of time, 
with the history of Kansas itself. The settlement of Kansas began in the year 1854. 
Sorghum was first noticed by the agricultural division of the United States Patent 
Office in the report of that Department for 1854. Just thirty years ago it was, this 
winter, that our national seed hunter was studying sorghum in France, and during 
the same month the people of this country were being excited over the discussion of 
the question of opening Kansas to settlement. The people of the Southern States 
were studying how they should add another slave State to the galaxy, while those 
of the North were strongly opposing such project, and organizing to — 

" Cross the prairies as of old / 

The Pilgrims crossed the sea, 
To make the West as they the East, 
The homestead of the free." 

The population of the new States and Territories of the West have always been 
large consumers of molasses ; this in the first years of settlement, by reason of the 
lack of fruit and of other necessaries and luxuries, which only come with improved 
circumstances and conditions of life. Before sorghum sirups came to be introduced 
New Orleans molasses was in almost universal use throughout the Western States. 

When sorghum came to be known as a valuable home-made substitute, it immedi- 
ately became popular. Every early settler in Kansas remembers that at the first, 
sugar and molasses were articles of prime necessity here ; molasses more than sugar. 
In the pioneer wagon, tent, or cabin life, molasses served the purposes of butter, of 
milk, of fruit, and of sundry other condiments. We all came to Kansas by the way 
of the Missouri Eiver, and all outfitted more or less at Saint Louis. No one failed to 
bring along a jug, ten gallon keg, or half barrel of molasses ; and whatever was the 
quantity, it was one of the first articles of the supplies to fail. 



72 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Tlie first seeds of the sorgliiim distributed from the United States Patent Office 
were procured by the Commissioner in France in 1854 and were planted in 1855. 
After two years of experimental cultivation action was taken for an abundant sup- 
ply of seeds for planting in 1857. In his report for 1856 (Patent Office Report, 1856, 
page 5), under date of February 17, 1857, the Commissioner says: "There seems a 
reasonable probability that it (the Chinese sugar-cane) will furnish almost eYery por- 
tion of the United States with means of producing, economically, all the sugar, or 
at least the sirup, which may be needed for domestic consumption, and even, perhaps, 
much for exportation. Steps have been taken the past season to supply the me^s to 
extend the cultivation of this product into every portion of the country. This office 
procured, in the first instance, 175 bushels of the seed which had been grown in this 
neighborhood, but finding that the demand wasfar from being supplied, 100 bushels more 
have been recently ordered from France. As every bushel contains seed sufficient to 
plant more than thirty acres of ground the whole amount distributed from this office 
during the present season will plant more than 8,000 acres; and, as each acre will 
yield on an average some 40 bushels of seed, there will probably be grown during the 
present year enough to plant more than ten million acres in 1858, should it all be har- 
vested for that purpose; and this is independent of all which may be introduced from 
other sources. The country may, therefore, be reasonably expected to be fully sup- 
plied with this seed after the present season, and further distribution thereof from 
this office will not be necessary. 

[It may be a matter worthy of note here that, in his report to the Commissioner 
of Patents in 1854, and published in the Commissioner's Report for that year, Mr. 
D. J. Brown states that Mr. Leonard Wray, who had given much attention to the 
cultivation, and had experimented upon the juice of the sorghum in Natal, Africa, 
informed him that in the neighborhood of Natal the Zulu-Kaffre, after gathering 
the canes of the plant, preserved them for a long time by burying the stalks in the 
ground, notwithstanding the climate of their country is very waroi and damp. Does 
not this suggest that in Kansas the season of manufacture might be much prolonged 
by placing the cane^ in receptacles similar to the silo ?] 

When first noticed in the Patent Office Report, in 1854, sorghum had not been intro- 
duced into the United States, but an agent of the Government furnished that year 
for the report some account of the cultivation of the plant in France, where it had 
been introduced some four or five years before. A small quantity of seed was then 
procured by the Commissioner and given to a few persons in different portions of this 
country for planting in 1855. The first reports made of experiments in the culture 
appeared in the Commissioner's Report for 1855, which was published-in 1856. These 
reports of experiments are curious, as showing that the cultivation and manufacture 
of sorghum in this country was, that year, a great novelty and wholly experimental. 
No instructions as to mode of planting, cultivation, or use had accompanied the pack- 
ages of seeds received. These were simply the words printed upon the packages: 
''Good for fodder, green or dry, and for making sugar." Mr. Brown, the European 
agent, in his reiiort had stated that the great object sought in France, in the cultiva- 
tion of this plant, was the juice contained in the stalk ; "which furnishes," he says, 
"three temporary products — sugar, which is identical with that of cane sugar, alco- 
hol, and a fermented drink analogous to cider." 

The reports of experiments made in 1855 were from seven States — Illinois, Minne- 
sota, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. All showed 
favoral)le results as to sorghum as a forage plant, and in two instances promising re- 
sults coming from rude experiments in making molasses. 

That year, 1855, was the first year of crop raising among the new settlers of Kansas. 
None of these settlers probably received seeds for that years planting, and the news- 
l^apers had not then begun to speak of sorghum. No popular information seems to 
have appeared on the subject before 1856. My own first definite recollection of the 
plant is from having grown a few stalks in my own garden, in the city of Atchison, in 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



73 



1858, yet no doubt it was grown in Kansas in 1857, and possibly in 1856. The enter 
pricing and needy population of Kansas Territory of that day may well be supposed 
to have quickly seized upon an article of cultivation wbich promised to supply 
them at the cost of little more than their own labor with an article of so great use 
and economy, heretofore a heavy drain upon their scanty resources. 

The first mention of sorghum made in a Kansas newspaper, so far as has come 
under my observation, is found in the columns of the Herald of Freedom, published at 
Lawrence, of date November 22, 1856. This was the second year of the distribution o^ 
seeds from the Patent Office, and at the close of the second experimental year in this 
country. This mention was not concerning a Kansas experiment, but one made that 
year ir Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In this, details are given in such manner as to 
imply that the subject was entirely a new one. The results shown were favorable as 
to sorghum as a fodder plant ; nothing as to sugar or molasses. 

In the next issue of this Kansas paper, that of December 6, 1856, is an article 
copied from that then leading agricultural paper in the West, the Prairie Farmer, 
Chicago, in which, under the head of "Sugar Millet," a writer says: "As it seems 
desirable to obtain all the information possibl'e in reference to the sugar millet, or 
Chinese sugar-cane, I give such facts as I have been able to obtain in reference to 
my own experience." The writer had planted in his irrigated garden in Illinois a 
square rod of ground, with a package of seed which had been sent him from the 
Patent Office ; planting late in the season, for at first he had thought of doing noth- 
ing with the seed, considering it rather in the light of a hoax. After the cane had 
grown, he let the frost nip it. He then cut it down and threw it to one side in order 
to plant the patch to strawberries. After that, and after the cane had lain ten days 
in a heap, seeing in a newspaper the account given by Governor Hammond of his ex- 
periment the year before in South Carolina, the Illinois writer took some of his canes, 
cut them into 3-inch pieces, and put them through his cider mill and then through 
Ms cider press, thus getting out seven quarts of juice. This he evaporated, and ob- 
tained a quart of a fair specimen of molasses, cleansing with soda and a little milk. 
He seemed to consider his experiment as a promising one. 

Our Kansas Herald of Freedom of December 20, 1856, has a scrap from a Nebraska 
paper, in which the editor acknowledges the receipt of a small quantity of molasses 
manufactured from sorghum cane grown in that Territory. As Kansas was far 
ahead of Nebraska in most everything in those times, not excepting the matter of 
political commotion within her midst, it is not to be doubted that she was, at the 
least, even with her neighbor on the north as to time in sorghum planting, and it is 
expected that it will yet be found that sorghum was grown in Kansas in the year 
1858. 

At the close of the reading of this paper before the Sorgham Asso- 
ciation, Mr. F. W. Griles, of Topeka, arose and stated that in the autumn 
of 1855, being then postmaster of Topeka, he received from the United 
States Patent Of&ce a small quantity of the Chinese sugar-cane seed, 
as it was then called, and inthe spring of 1856, planted it upon his farm 
near Topeka. The growth of the plant was watched with deep inter- 
est, and when it had attained maturity it presented a spectacle so novel, 
and so suggestive of future possibilities to the new Territory, that he 
contributed an item upon the subject to the Kansas Freeman, a newspa- 
per then published at Topeka. In the succeeding winter, great inter- 
est being felt throughout the country as to the results of the new cane 
culture, he gave information that he had successfully grown the plant, 
and had saved a small quantity of the seed, which he offered to persons 
who might desire to secure it. Some forty small packages, containing 



74 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



an ounce of seed each, were sent to the southern portions of the Territory 
for distribution, and a pound or more to the vicinity of Fort Riley. Other 
parcels were sent to Atchison and to Lawrence. Beginning- with 1857, 
sorghum sirup has been a product among the farmers of Shawnee 
County- continuously, to this time. 

Mr. Giles stated that he had not been informed of any other instance 
of the growth of sugar cane In Kansas in 1856, and he thought it prob- 
able that the few hours devoted by him to its culture, and the subse- 
quent distribution of seed by him, may have been the true beginning 
of tbe industry in Kansas. 

The issue of the Kansas Herald of Freedom of December 27, 1856, 
contains as far as I know, the first editorial article on this subject ever 
written and published in Kansas. This article smacks of politics a 
little, and makes a criticism of the sugar tariff, and of slaveholding. 
''We pay," the editor says, ''for sugar now from 16 to 22 cents per 
pound ; for molasses from $1 to $1.20 per gallon. In order to keep up 
the Louisiana sugar planters, we have to pay a duty of 30 per cent, 
ad valorem on all imported sugar. The expenses of sweetening a fam- 
ily has really become a very considerable item in housekeeping. The 
prospects of getting it cheaper are not very flattering, if we depend 
upon our Southern planters to produce it. Their annual crop has 
dwindled from 470,000 hogsheads per annum to 120,000, nearly three- 
quarters less than it was ten years ago. This is a strong argument for 
the repeal of the tariff, which would no doubt be done, were it not for 
the interest of the slaveholder to retain it. But we have the tariff, and 
it will probably be retained for their benefit. This may in the end be 
fortunate for the country, for it will stimulate very considerably the 
cultivatiou of the Chinese sugar cane. This is destined, at no distant 
day, to be one of the staple productions of Kansas, and perhaps of all 
the Middle States." And here the editor remarks, in reference to 
Kansas, what twenty-seven years of cultivation since has well demon- 
strated, certainly so as applying what he said to the climate of Kansas. 
" The soil of Kansas," he says, "is remarkably adapted to the favor- 
able growth of this plant. The spontaneous vegetation indicates a 
warm alkaline soil, free from acids, and well calculated to secrete sac- 
charine, in plants favorable to elaborate it. This is seen in the superior 
sweetness of our sugar beets, watermelons, and sweet potatoes. The 
climate is also favorable ; it being warm and dry." 

And the next spring, 1857, the cultivation of sorghum was no doubt 
well begun in Kansas. In the issue of the Herald of Freedom of April 
11, 1857, the editor says, in a paragraph under the head of "New arti- 
cles of agriculture," as if there had been known to him no cultivation 
of sorghum in Kansas before that time: "Several persons are going 
into the sugar business this season sufficiently large to test the value 
of the new sugar plant. Caution is necessary at first in order that per- 
sons may not lose too much by failure. Experience is necessary." 



NORTH f-RN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



75 



By 1860 Kansas, with a population of a little over 100,000, produced 
nearly 88,000 gallons of molasses, or four-fifths of a gallon to each inhab- 
itant. Though the year 1860 was one of unparalleled drought in Kansas, 
but four States exceeded our Territory that year in the production of 
this article in ratio of population. These States were Indiana, Iowa, 
Ohio, and Tennessee. In 1870, with a population of about 350,000, 
Kansas produced, in round numbers, 450,000 gallons of sorghum sirup, 
or 1^ gallons to the inhabitant. But three other States — Indiana, Ken- 
tucky, and Tennessee — equaled this ratio of production. In 1880 Kan- 
sas, with a population of not quite 1,000,000, produced 3,250,000 gal- 
lons ; and in 1883 the production was over 4J gallons of sorghum sirup 
to the individual inhabitant; and the same year there was produced 
within the State, as estimated, nearly 500,000 pounds of sorghum sugar. 

The high price of sugar and molasses during the war greatly stimu- 
lated the cultivation of sorghum. But a drought in 1863 in the West- 
ern States, followed by an unusually severe frost before the plants were 
ripe, nearly destroyed the sorghum crop, and greatly discouraged and 
lessened the planting in most of the Western States for some years 
thereafter. Kansas was, however, comparatively exempt from the 
calamity of 1863. 

At the annual meeting of the Kansas State Agricultural Society at 
Topeka, in January, 1864, among others who brought in samples ot 
sorghum products for exhibition, of the crop of 1863, Hon. Charles B. 
Lines, of Wabaunsee County, exhibited some samples of sorghum sugar 
of superior quality manufactured by him. Mr. Lines gave an account 
of hi& experience in sorghiim cultivation and manufacture in Kansas, 
running through a period of six years. This account was published in 
the Kansas Farmer of April, 1864. His first seed, planted in 1858, was 
procured direct from the Patent Office at Washington. For that and 
several subsequent years his was the usual early experience ; that from 
the use of wooden mills and of evaporating pans of the most primitive 
construction. By 1862 he had an iron mill and Cook's patent evap- 
orator, and results were good. He manufactured for most of the 
farmers of his neighborhood, for by that time, twenty-two years ago, 
and only eight years after the introduction of sorghum into this country, 
almost every farmer in Kansas had his sorghum patch ; and it was quite 
generally raised for malting sirup, one mill and evaporator doing serv- 
ice for a neighborhood. 

In 1863 Mr. Lines planted both sorghum and imphee, and that year 
he obtained sugar from the canes of both. As to the imphee sirup, 
evaporated in the usual way, it was placed in barrels in a cellar ; and, 
after a few days, an examination revealed the fact that the barrels were 
more than half filled with sugar. The sirup was then withdrawn and 
the sugar placed in common salt barrels, with the heads perforated with 
gimlet-holes, and set over a tub to drain. The result in a few days was 
a beautiful article of clean", dry sugar. This was in a cool cellar, and 



76 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



in the month of October, and yet about one-half of the mass in each 
barrel was well drained and fit for table use. From the three barrels 
of imphee sirup not less than 300 pounds of sugar were obtained. But 
while all the imphee manufactured by Mr. Lines grained freely, but one 
barrel out of ten of the sorghum produced any considerable amount of 
sugar. 

Mr. Lines, in his paper presented to the Agricultural Society, re- 
ferred to the existence at that time of a State Sorgo Association in Ohio, 
and stated that persons who had examined the more than fifty sami^les 
of sugar collected from various parts of that State by that association, 
testified that they did not see a single specimen that would begin to 
compare with those exhibited by him at the Kansas meeting, and pro- 
duced by him in Wabaunsee County, and he said : 

This state of facts can only be explained upon the supposition that our soil and 
climate are better adapted to this culture ; for certainly the farmers of Ohio must 
have possessed greater facilities than we have enjoyed. But, without reference to 
soil, it is obvious that the more highly rarified condition of the autumn in Kansas is 
pre-eminently adapted to the concentration of the saccharine element and the pro- 
cess of granulation, which gives us greatly the advantage and satisfactorily ex- 
plains the whole matter. Well, then, may we congratulate ourselves and the farm- 
ers of our State that a new and broad field is open to our enterprise. Heretofore our 
supplies of sugar and molasses have come to us chiefly from the plantations of Louisi- 
ana, the fruit of the unrequited toil of the oppressed bondmen and women of that 
region. 

And he concludes with this prophetic remark : 

Hereafter, if the auspicious omens now opening before us are justly regarded as 
significant of successful results, a portion of our broad prairies will rapidly be con- 
verted into sugar plantations, machinery for its manufacture propelled by steam be- 
come common in all parts of our State, and this great staple will be manufactured 
by the intelligent free labor of our people in quantities vastly beyond our need for 
home consumption. 

But it is known to all how these accidental or phenomenal crys- 
talizations in those early times excited hopes which were not realized, 
and how experiment after experiment, kept up through many years, 
failed to bring reliable and satisfactory results. It is known to all 
that sorghum sirup failed to become established as a popular article lor 
table use, and that until recently it may be said to have maintained a 
place in manufacture, for use only as a substitute for something better 
where necessity compelled it. Yet through all these years there have 
been those who, patiently and with faith, labored to solve the problem 
of sorghum sugar. And now all believe it is solved, l^ow the predic- 
tions of the most sanguine of the early experimenters are beginning to 
be realized, and w^e have a near future before us of seeing Kansas a 
great sugar-growing State, the foremost State of all. The later facts 
as to this industry and as to the recent developments in the manufact- 
ure of sugar, and of better qualities of sorghum sirup, have been so 
fully set forth in the admirable reports of .the Kansas State Board of 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



77 



Agriculture, in the Kansas Farmer, and other i^ublications of the State? 
that it is not necessary to speak of them here. 

Anything like complete information as to the history of the sorghum 
production in Kansas would be impossible without great research and 
much inquiry among the inhabitants. Time has not permitted me to"^ 
bestow this work upon the subject in the preparation of this paper. 
What has been here presented may possibly serve the temporary pur- 
pose of the gentlemen who laid out the work of this meeting, and may 
aid the future historian in more extended inquiries. 

SORGHUM IN ITALY.* 

EXPER13IENTS MADE UNDER THE CARE OF THE MINISTER OF AGRI- 
CULTURE. 

"The sorghum Amber cane of Minnesota, so called on account of the 
amber color of its seed, is a variety of our common broom-corn {Sorghum 
saccharatimi), from which, while it does not differ in its specific char- 
acter, it is easily recognizable by not having the interior of the stalk 
filled with a white and dry pith, but rich in saccharine juice. This 
close affinity is the cause of the easy hybridization of Amber cane, and 
when cultivated in the vicinity of the broom-corn of our fields there is 
danger, after some l^pse of time, of the stalks becoming dry and poor 
in saccharine substance. 

Whilst the Sorghum saccharatum grows spontaneously in the East 
Indies and in Arabia, the variety we are speaking of came to us from 
America, where it is called Early Amber. In I806 and 1857 1 seeds of 
various kinds of sorghum were introduced into the United States from 
France and England, and under the influence of the climate and of culti- 
vation they have been modified, and multiplied. 

In the experiments made at Washington upon the saccharine richness 
of sorghum in 1881, twelve States of the Union figured as having furn- 
ished seeds of thirty-four varieties. In 1877 it was found that in the 
juice of Minnesota Amber cane there was a large deposit" of sucrose, 
and from that time accurate investigations were commenced in Amer- 
ica on the subject. 

Also in Italy, in the years 1880 and 1881, experiments were made under 
the care of Commander Ohizzolini in Mantua, of Mr. Sacerdoti in Mo- 
dena, of the Technical Institute of Viterbo, in the district of Yiterbo 
and of this department in the fields set apart for experiments of the 
agricultural stations scattered throughont various provinces. But the 
difference found in the results of culture and in those of saccharometrj^^ 
rendered manifest the utility of new studies that should show clearly on 



Annali di Agricnltura ; Esperimenti Culturali Sul Sorgo Ambrato. 
t These dates are erroneous. See Report of Botanist. — R. 



78 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTtiY. 



what conditions this new saccharine plant could be advantageously in- 
troduced into our country for the purpose of extracting its sugar or for 
alcoholization, and likewise as fodder for cattle. 

Therefore the Department, in accordance with the resolution of the 
Chamber, which requested the Government to promote, by every means, 
the culture of sorghum and the beet-root, decided that a new cultural 
experiment should be made in 1882, and in the month of March distrib- 
uted Amber-sorghum seed to all the agrarian stations of Udine, Forli, 
Firenze, Pnoma, Oaserta, Palermo, to the agrarian schools of Pesaro, 
Scerni, Portici, Lecce, Oatanzarb, to the Zootechnical School of Oil-mak- 
ing of Bari, to the Agricultural Colony of San Martino near Palermo, 
to the Technical Institute of Yiterbo, to the Society of Acclimation of 
Palermo, and to Professor Missaghi, president of the Vine Culture Com- 
mission of Cagliari. 

Beside inquiring into the influence exerted by the various climates of 
Italy upon the cultivation of Amber sorghum, it was desired to know 
what difference of results would be obtained by using seed imported 
directly trom Minnesota and the seed reproduced in Italy, which is the 
most advantageous mode of sowing, to what extent the richness of 
sucrose varies in the different stages of the vegetable period, and what 
is the most suitable time for the harvest ; in what proportions and with 
what degree of rapidity the conversion of sucrose into 'glucose takes 
place in the gathered stalks; in what climates the Cultivation of Amber 
sorghum can be carried on with more advantage than that of maize or 
beets. 

The method of cultivation of the beets and sorghum was written out 
in detail, so that all the experiments made in different parts of the king 
dom should be carried on under the same conditions. 

Sam]des for analyses were taken at stated times and by uniform 
methods; the analyses were all carried on in the same way, and hence 
the results are strictly comparable. 

The method of analysis was as follows : 

CHEMICAL RESEARCHES ON SORGHUM. 

The juice was extracted by grating the cane and squeezing the pulp 
obtained by means of a good hand-press. It was found that by opera- 
ting in this manner there remained in the pulp from one-fifth to one- 
sixth of the juice, since the sugar which was obtained by diffusion in 
water varied from one-fifth to one-fourth that contained in the juice ex- 
tracted. 

The glucose and sucrose were determiued with the cupropotassic 
reagent of Fehling, the results being controlled with solutions of sugar 
and with the optical saccharometer. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



79 



Besults of experiments made hy the Zootecchnic School in Eeggio, hy Professors Zanelli 

mid Spallanzani. 



TABLE I. 



Dat e of har- 
vest. 


Date of an- 
alysis. 


Mean of each cane. 


Juice extracted 
to weight of 
cane. 


Specific gravity 
of juice at 
15° C. 


Length. 


Diameter. 


Weight. 


Sept. 7 

7 

21 

21 


27 

27 

Oct. 17 


Meters. 
2. 10 
L 85 
L 75 
L 70 


Millimeters. 
18.0 
21.0 
22.0 
17.0 


Grams. 
485.0 
429.5 
519. 5 
457.0 


Per cent. 
58. 30 
56. 84 
55. 52 
52. 72 


1. 072 

1. 083 
1. 092 
1.107 



TABLE II. 



Date of harvest. 



Sept. 7 
7 
21 
21 



Date of analysis of 
juice. 



Sept. 15 
27 
27 

Oct. 17 



Juice. 



Glucose. Sucrose. 



Per ct. 
2.20 
3. 75 
5. 96 
7. 96 



Per ct. 
16. 49 
15. 43 
15. 95 
7. 09 



Sum of 

two 
sugars. 



Per ct. 
18. 69 
19. 18, 
2L 91 
15. 05 



Non- 
sugars 



Per ct. 



6. 30 



Coeffi- 
cient of 
purity. 



56. 54 
24. 46 



TABLE III.. 



Date of harvest. 


Date of analysis. 


Sept. 21 


Oct. 2 


21 


2 


21 


5 


21 


5 







. kl « 


Eesult per 100— 










■ill 


Of 
glucose. 


Of 
sucrose. 


Of 
both 
sugars. 


50.76 
32. 57 
66. 34 
53. 48 


10. 65 

6. 85 

7. 68 
6. 09 


13. 63 
17. 57 
9. 46 
5. 51 


24. 28 
24. 42 
17. 14 
11. 60 



Part of the cane 
analyzed. 



Lower part. 
Upper part. 
External part. 
Internal part. 



To sum up from the observations and the comi)arisous op which the 
preceding investigations bear, we come to these conchisions: 

1. The culture of Amber sugar-cane may very probably give, in our 
country, a rich yield of crystallizable sugar, as it does in that American 
State (Minnesota) from which the plant was originally brought. 

2. By prolonging the time which intervenes between the harvest of 
the sorghum cane and its analysis, the juice obtainable therefrom and 
its percentage in sucrose diminishes, while there is not always an in- 
crease of glucose. Perhaps, by putting the cane under the ground 
and moistening it before this is done, the losses may be considerably 
reduced. 

3. The upper internodes and the peripheric strata of the cane seem 
to yield a greater abundance of saccharose than the lower internodes 
and the central strata, so that it would seem advisable not to sow thick 
and to cultivate sorghum, just like beets, in such a way as to obtain the 
product of an average and suitable size. 



80 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



4. The beets were not equal as regarded quality. The unusual con- 
dition of the season and the tard}^ harvest were probably the causes of 
their failure. 

The fact that the sorghum did better, in spite of the same unfavor- 
able climatic conditions and the same condition of cultivation, is a cir- 
cumstance to be considered for the purpose of^ encouraging the manu- 
facture of sugar. 

Studies on sorghum intended to demonstrate the utility of its culti- 
vation in a chemico-agri cultural point of view should be repeated in 
order to ascertain the changes which take place in its constitution, not 
at previously fixed times, but continually, in order accurately to ascertain 
the phase of development in which the gathering may take place with 
most advantage, and to determine what appearances accompany that 
phase and the peculiarities of constitution which correspond thereto, 
and which are most easil}^ observed." 

The rei)ort of the Minister of Agriculture next gives tables of the re- 
sults of the culture of sorghum, and from them the following conclusions 
are drawn : 

"CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE SOIL INFERRED FROM CULTURAL OBSER- 
VATIONS. 

1. The cultivation of sorghum, even in lands of moderate richness, 
succeeds very well in the same conditio tis as that of common maize, and 
when the chemico-industrial question is settled there will be nothing 
to fear in this direction. 

2. The seed of acclimated sorghum gives a larger yield and a more 
vigorous plant than the original seed. 

3. For the quantity of the yield sowing in line is preferable to sow- 
ing in tufts. 

4. The yield of the stalks of the sorghum increases in quantity from 
the blossoming to the fecundation and the maturation of the seed ; 
then it diminishes somewhat, and increases again after the autumnal 
rains. 

5. In grounds tending to form a crust, the depth of planting must 
not be greater for sorghum than two centimeters, the depth of three 
centimeters having been found excessive even in the present case. 
Besides, as to the sowing, it is to be observed that it should not take 
place too early ; it should be delayed until a stated season in the spring, 
from the first to the last of May. To sow earlier, with the unexpected 
return of cold, sorghum suifers, and in an 3' event is injured considerably. 

6. The enemies by which sorghum has been heretofore attacked are 
insects (which are easily destroyed by insect-powder made from tobacco) 
and birds. It is further to be observed, first, that whilst the leaf of the 
beet is often found injurious to animals fed upon it, causing among other 
things diarrhea, the sorghum leaf, on the contrary, makes good fodder j 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



81 



second, that the cultivation of the sorghum is more rapid and leav^es 
the ground free sooner. 

7. Likewise the grain of the sorghum furnishes a good food for cattle,, 
as seen by the following analysis : 

Analysis of sorghum seed. 
TABLE IV. 



One bandred parts of seed contain: 

Moisture - 

Ashes 

Albaminons matter , 

Fat 

Starch and sugar 

Fiber, &c 



Ripe 
seed. 



8. 210 

2. 113 
13. 470 

3. 164 
70. 320 

1.993 



Half ripe 
seed. 



10. 620 
2. 340 

12. 300 
2. 593 

68. 980 
2. 134 



METHOD OF HARVESTING. 

The harvest of Amber sorghum was made by cutting the stalks on a 
level with the ground, and was performed in four different periods, di- 
vided as follows: 1st. One quarter of each division immediately after 
blossoming. 2d. Another quarter one month after blossoming. 3d. 
Another quarter shortly after the ripening of the seed. 4th. The last 
quarter fifteen days later, unless the different origins of the seed or the 
different cultivations made in the drills or hills delay or hasten very 
much the blossoming or the ripening of the fruit; the gathering should 
take place on the same day in all the divisions. 

For each gathering and each division, the following things were ex- 
amined separately: {a) the weight of the seed heads; (/;) the weight of 
the leaves; (c) the weight of the stalks (d) for the third and the fourth 
gatherings, the weight and the measure of the cleansed grain were also 
noted. 

The stalks being gathered, the extraction of the juice and the sac- 
charometric tests were made at three different times, that is : 1st the 
day after the harvest; 2d, ten days after the harvest; 3d, one mouth 
after the harvest, keeping account (a) of the })roportion of weight be- 
tween the juice and the stalks, {b) of the saccharine richness of the 
juice, (c) of the proportion between glucose and sucrose. 



PROCESS EMPLOYED TO DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF SACCHARINE 
MATTER OF SORGHUM. 

The saccharometric determinations were made with Fehling's cupro- 
ammoniac reagent, the juice being first treated with basic acetate of 
lead, the excess of which was precipitated with carbonate of soda. 
16435 N s 6 



82 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Here are the results obtained, at Modena, under direction of Pro- 
fessor Pirotta : 

JResult of saccJwromefric determinations. 
TABLE V. 
First harvest. 



Quantity of 
stalks. 


Juice obtained. 


Quantity per 100 of juice in- 


Density 
of juice 


Absolute. 


Per 100. 


Saccha- 
rine mat- 
ter. 


Sucrose. 


Glucose. 


Kilograms. 


Kilograms. 


Kilograms. 










1. 475 


0. 900 


61.01 


13. 82 


8. 67 


5.15 


1. 0600 


1.550 


0. 950 


61.61 


14. 02 


6. 62 


7. 40 


1. 0670 


1.380 


0. 830 


60. 14 


18. 75 


13. 70 


5. 05 


1. 0905 


1.400 


0. 750 


53. 50 


13. 00 


7.64 


5. 36 


1. 0590 


1.475 


0. 875 


59. 32 


15. 30 


8. 20 


7. 10 


1. 0710 


1. 055 


0. 505 


47. 86 


21. 26 


15. 42 


5.84 


1.1010 


1.500 


0. 900 


60. 00 


5. 86 


1.94 


3. 92 


1.0355 


0. 800 


0. 500 


62. 50 


14. 90 


7. 17 


7. 73 


1. 0710 


0. 485 


0. 260 


53. 60 


17. 70 


8. 14 


9.56 


1. 0880 


0. 950 


0. 600 


63. 15 


10. 23 


5. 23 


5. 00 


1. 0500 


0. 750 


0. 475 


63. 83 


13. 88 


6. 15 


7. 73 


1. 0660 


0. 530 


0. 240 


45. 28 


18.01 


9. 53 


8. 48 


1. 0955 



Plat of 
ground. 


Evstimate of 
sugar. 


First .... 


I 




II 


Second. . . 


Ill 


I 




II 




Ill 


Third. ... 


I 




II 




Ill 


Fourth .. 


I 




II 




Ill 



TABLE VI. 
Second "harvest. 



Estimate of 
sugar. 


Quantity of 
stalks. 


Juice obtained. 


Quantity per 100 of juice in- 


Density 
of juice. 


Absohite. 


Per 100. 


Saccha- 
rine mat- 
ter. 


Sucrose. 


Glucose. 




Kilogram s. 


Kilograms. 


Kilograms. 










I 


■ 1; 6(50 


0. 950 


59. 33 


17. 03 


14. 04 


2. 99 


1. 0810 


II 


1. 450 


0. 940 


64. 82 


20. 61 


14. 38 


6. 23 


1. 0960 


Ill 


1. 025' 


0. 550 


53. 64 


23. 56 


15. 06 


8. 50 


1. 1080 


I 


L725,. 


1. 025 


59. 41 


18.48 


16. 04 


2.44 


1.0840 


II 


1.620 


;, 0. 970 


59. 50 


20. 43 


14. 59 


5.84 


1. 0930 


Ill 


1.250 


» 0.730 


58. 40 


19. 10 


12. 40 


6.70 


1. 1100 


I 


1. 260 


0. 810 


64. 28 


17. 74 


14. 58 


3. 16 


1. 0820 


II 


1. 540 


0. 980 


63. 63 


19. 52 


13. 34 


6. 18 


1. 0895 


Ill 


1. 150 


0. 600 


52. 17 


21.65 


16. 12 


5. 53 


i; 1015 


I 


1. 560 


0. 960 


61.53 


19. 04 


16. 64 


2. 40 


1. 0870 


II 


1.325 


0. 825 


62. 26 


19. 91 


14. 95 


4. 96 


1 0980 


Ill 


1.-225 


0. 675 


55. 10 


22. 66 


15. 96 


6.70 


1. 1050 



Second. 



Third. 



Fourth 



TABLE VII. 



Third harvest. 



Plat of 
ground. 


Estimate of 
sugar. 


Quantity of 
stalks. 


Juice obtained. ' 


Quantity per 100 of juice in — 


Density 
of juice. 


Absolute. 


Per 100. 


Saccha- 
rine mat- 
ter. 


Sucrose. 


Glucose. 






Kilograms. 


Kilograms. 


Kilograms. 










First .... 


I 


1. 425 


0. 900 


63.15 


17. 59 


15. 04 


2. 55 


1. 0800 


II 


1.230 


0. 840 


68. 29 


18.45 


13. 09 


, 5.36 


1. 0900 




Ill 


1.915 


0. 505 


.55. 19 


24. 06 


14. 14 i 9. 92 


1. 1160 


Second .. 




1.475 


0. 865 


58. 64 


17. 92 


16. 20 


1.72 


1. 0850 


U 


1. 260 


0. 780 


61.90 


2L 25 


16. 83 


4. 42 


1.0970 




Ill 


1. 100 


0. 540 


48. 18 


25.91 


13.45 


12.46 


1. 1325 


Third.... 


I 


1. 550 


1. 035 


66. 77 


17. 69 


15. 63 


2. 06 


L0820 


II 


1.430 


0. 750 


52. 44 


20. 16 


14. 80 


5.26 


1. 0995 




Ill 


1. 000 


0. 575 


.57. 50 


24. 76 


14. 26 


10. 50 


1. 1175 


Fourth .. 


I 


1. 450 


0. 953 


65. 51 


17. 95 


15. 76 


2. 19 


1. 0840 


II 


1.210 


0.710 


58. 67 


20. 62 


15. 52 


5. 10 


1. 0995 




Ill 


L 050 


0. 640 


60. 95 


24. 65 


16.53 


8. 12 


. 1.1130 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 83 

TABLE Vni. 
Fourth harvest. 









Juice obtained. 


Quantity per 100 of juice in — 




Plat of 


Estimate of 


Quantity of 












Density 


groitud. 


sugar. 


stalks. 






Saccha- 






of juice. 






Absolute. 


Per 100. 


rine mat- 


Sucrose. ' Glucose. 












ter. 












Kilograms. 


Kilograms. 


Kilograms. 










First 


I 


1.225 




■ 59. 18 


19.38 


17. 48 


1. 90 


1. 0890 




II 


1. 000 


0. 540 


54. 00 


20. 70 


16. 38 


4. 32 


1. 1015 




Ill 


0. 915 


0. 535 


58.46 


24. 56 


18. 03 


6. 53 


1. 1150 


Second .. 


I 


1.400 


0. 840 


60. 00 


19. 62 


18. 38 


1.24 


1. 0910 




II 


1. 220 


0. 740 


60. 65 


20. 81 


17.12 


3. 69 


1. 0980 




HI 


0. 875 


0. 405 


46. 26 


26. 89 


19. 24 


7. 65 


1. 1400 


Third.... 


I 


1. 475 


0. 905 


61. 35 


18. 81 


16. 90 


1.91 


1. 0865 




II 


1. 1.50 


0. 700 


60. 86 


22. 53 


18. 25 


4. 28 


1. 1045 




Ill 


1.000 


0. 460 


46. 00 


26. 34 


18. 93 


7. 41 


1.1138 


Fourth .. 


I... 


1. 275 


0. 785 


61. 57 


19. 35 


17. 89 


1. 46 


1. 0905 




II 


1. 175 


0. 690 


58. 72 


21. 36 


18. 40 


2.96 


1.1005 




in 


1. 150 


0, 620 


53. 90 


25. 79 


19. 09 


6. 70 


1. 1160 



CONCLUSIONS. 

1. The percentage of the juice remains almost equal in the first two 
experiments of each gathering (the difference being due to the difficulty 
of having in each gathering canes of exactly the same size). It dimin- 
ishes considerably in the third experiment, doubtless because the canes 
remain for some time detached from their roots, deprived of their leaves 
and exposed to the air. 

2. The quantity of juice, of sucrose, and glucose is not sensibly dif- 
ferent in canes grown from the original seed and from the reproduced 
seed. 

3. The quantity of sucrose always increases in the experiments of the 
first and the last gathering all of the divisions; in those of the second 
and the third the quantity varies without rule according to the various 
experiments. 

4. The quantity of glucose diminishes in all the experiments from the 
first to the last gathering, with the exception of the third. 

5. The quantity of sucrose is always the most abundant in the last 
experiment of the last gathering. 

6. The quantity of glucose is the most abundant in the third experi- 
ment of the third gathering of each division. 

7. Both the sucrose and the glucose increase in quantity from the 
first to the third experiment in each gathering and in each division. 

8. The smallest quantity of sucrose is found in the experiments of 
the first gathering, but it always increases in the third experiment of 
the first gathering. 

9. The difference in the sucrose is largest between the experiments 
of the third and the fourth, and smallest between those of the second 
and the third gathering. 

As to the ratio between the quantity of sucrose and of glucose con- 



84 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



tained in the juice and the time of vegetation of the sorghum, the 
experience of this year permits us to state that : 

1st. The quantity of sucrose is smallest immediately after the blos- 
soming, while relatively that of the glucose is largest. 

2d. The quantity of sucrose is largest ten days after the maturation 
of the seed, while at the same time the quantity of glucose is smallest, 
decreasing nearly in proportion to the increase of the sucrose. 

3d. The quantity of sucrose in the gatherings made one month after 
the blossoming, and as soon as the maturation of seeds is completed, 
is almost equal in the two gatherings, and much greater than that of 
the gathering made immediately after the blossoming. 

The quantity of glucose, which in the first two gatherings above re- 
ferred to remain almost equal, diminishes considerably in that made one 
month after the blossoming. These results agree with those obtained 
in the United States. Only the quantity of sucrose and the density 
of the juice were always somewhat greater in this experiment than those 
found in America." 

The results of the experiments at the other stations in Italy are equally 
as interesting. The sorghum plant appears to thrive much better in 
Italy than in this country, and the percentage of both sugars in the 
juice reached in some of the experiments 26. These cases were in canes 
which were not analyzed until a month after cutting, and it is but fair 
to suppose that the juice had become somewhat concentrated by evap- 
oration. It is also noticed that sorghum canes retain their sucrose for 
a longer time than with us, in at least two cases the percentage of this 
sugar being 19 one mouth after the canes were cut. It would have been 
of interest had the Italian Minister of Agriculture told us how the canes 
were preserved for so long a time. In absence of any definite statement, 
it is probably safe to say that these canes were kept under ground. 

The remarkable results of the Italian experiments indicate that in 
this country our experiments have not extended far enough south to 
secure the best conditions of growth. In the great majority of cases 
the Italian canes that were cut after the seed were ripe, and analyzed 
on the following day, showed a richness in available sugars which is fully 
equal to the best tropical canes. 

METHODS OF ANALYSES PRACTICED IN THIS DIVISION WITH JUICES 
(RAW AND DEFECATED), SEMI-SIRUP, SIRUP, AND MELADA. 



Sucrose was determined by double polarization in a large Laurent 
shadow saccharimeter. The mean percentage of sucrose in all the raw 
juices examined was — 



SUCROSE. 



By direct polarization 
After inversion 



Per cent. 
. . 8. 72 
. . 8. 38 



In the defecated juice : 



By direct polarization 
After inversion 



8. 91 
8. 62 



NOHTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 85 

Par cent. 

In semi-sirup: 

By direct polarization 29. 83 

After inversion 30. 08 

In sirup anrl molasses : 

By direct polarization 39. 80 

After inversion 38. 96 

In meladas : 

By direct polarization 51. 25 

After inversion 48.39 

In sugars : 

By direct polarization 90. 60 

After inversion 88. 59 



REDUCING SUGARS. 

These determinations were also made in duplicate, viz : 

(1.) By titration witli Fehling's solution, using potassium ferro cya- 
nide to determine the end of the reaction. 

(2.) By the permanganate method described in Annual Report of De- 
partment of Agriculture for 1880, pp. 42, 43. 

For raw juices the mean of all the determinations was — 

Per cent. 



By titration with Fehling's solution = 4.31 

With permanganate 4. 26 

For defecated juice : 

With Fehling's solution ...... 4. 26 

With permanganate 4. 28 

For semi-sirup : 

With Fehling's solution 16. 20 

With permanganate 16. 48 

For molasses and sirups : 

With Fehling's solution 25. 69 

With permanganate 28. 1 1 

For sugars : 

With Fehling's solution 3. 68 

With permanganate 3.81 



SUCROSE IN DIFFUSION WASTE WATERS AND PULPS. 

In these substances, when the percentage of sucrose was often less 
than 1 per cent., only direct polarizations were made. 

From 50 to 100 grams of the material were used (in 100<^™ volume), 
and the polariscopic readings made in tubes 500™"^ in length. 

OTHER SUGARS IN DITTO. 

The waste water was titrated without dilution with Fehling's solution 
of one-tenth strength. For pulps 150 grams were weighed into a tared 
dish, the weight made up with water to 750 grams. The mixture was 
then boiled for an hour, water being added from time to time to make 
up for loss of evaporation. After cooling, the original weight was re- 
stored by adding the small quantity of water necessary. After filter- 



86 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



ing, a measured portion of the filtrate was titrated with one- tenth 
Feh ling's solution. 

In all titrations with copper solutions I determine the end of the 
process by filtering a few drops of the liquid into a white dish (porce- 
lain crucible, or lid) in which is previously placed a drop of potassium 
ferro-cyauide acidified with acetic acid. In order to be exact, the filtra- 
tion should be as rapid as possible and at a high temperature. 

The only way in which I have been able to secure these two conditions 
is as follows : A glass tube 10^°^ to 20«"^ in length and 20^^"^ to 30^"^"^ in 
diameter is softened at one end and pressed on a block of wood. This 
produces a rim around the end, over which a piece of fine linen can be 
tied with linen thread. This having been done, the covered end of the 
tube is placed in a beaker containing asbestos pulp suspended in water* 
About one-half cubic centimeter of water is sucked into the tube. This 
leaves the linen diaphragm covered with a film of asbestos. The water 
is now poured out and the tube is ready for use. When the copper ap- 
pears reduced, the end of the tube is placed in the dish and a few drops 
of the liquid sucked into it. This liquid is turned at once into the por- 
celain dish containing the ferro-cyanide. The end of the reaction can 
be determined in this way speedily and with the greatest accuracy. The 
tubes after use are dipi)ed into very dilute nitric acid, and after wash- 
ing with pure water are again ready tor use. Ten or twenty of them 
should be kept in working order. 

After having used this method (first more than three years ago) in 
many thousand determinations, I consider it one of the best means yet 
devised for indicating the point of exact saturation.* 

ANALYSES OF CANES AND BAGASSES. 

The direct determination of sugars in the canes is attended with many 
difficulties. The fibrous structure of the canes and their hard points 
render their reduction to a fine pulp almost impossible. In the follow- 
ing analyses from 25 to 50 kilograms of the canes and 10 to 20 kilo- 
grams of the bagasse were passed through the cane-cutter preparatory 
to sampling. An equal quantity of the canes, as much like the preced- 
ing as possible, was passed through the experimental mill and the juice 
subjected to analysis. The details of the operations will be found in 
the following tables : 

In Table No. 1 will be found analyses of cane chips sampled by the 
method just described, made as follows: The chips were boiled with about 
five times their weight of water for a time averaging one hour and a 
half Fresh portions of water were added from time to time to keep 
the volume nearly constant. After cooling, the contents of the flask or 

* T first used tubes constructed as above in 1881, but tried then paper pulp audfilms 
of filter-paper on the linen. I first used asbestos in the summer of 1883, and found 
it far superior to anythiug else. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



87 



dish were made up to a given volume or weight and subjected to exam- 
ination. 

The optical analyses were made by double polarization. The chemi- 
cal analyses were made either by direct titration with Fehling's solu- 
tion, or by the permanganate method already described. These several 
methods are designated in the tables by "optical," "copper," or "per- 
manganate." Where the first has been used with either of the others, it 
is designated by "optical and reducing." 

In each table the results of the analyses of the chips (or bagasses) are 
compared with the theoretical composition indicated by the analyses of 
the juices. Tn this calculation the sorghum-cane is taken at 89 per cent, 
juice, and 11 per cent, cellulose, &g.; the Louisiana cane at 92 percent, 
juice, and 8 per cent, cellulose, &c. The percentage of juice to weight 
of cane expressed from the sorghum canes was nearly 65, and from the 
Louisiana cane nearly 67. 

The theoretical composition of the bagasse was computed on the basis 
of these figures. In these compositions it is assumed that the compo- 
sition of the juice ex})ressed is similar to that remaining in the bagasse, 
a view which is not opposed by any well verified facts. 

The table ISTo. 2 contains the results of the analyses made as in the 
first, with the exception that the boiling was continued twice as long. 

In Table Ko. 3 are found the data given by treating the chips with 
five successive portions of water (each portion somewhat greater than 
the volume of the chips). After each boiling the water was poured off* 
and fresh portions added. 

Table ]S"o. 4 differs from the preceding only in having the chips treated 
with ten portions of water instead of five. In some cases the chips were 
mashed in a mortar, but this process did not seem to increase the per 
cent, of sugar extracted. 

Table Ko. 5 contains the results of treating the chips with alcohol 
instead of water. Both processes were employed Avith alcohol, i. e., boil- 
ing with a given volume or with successive portions. The determina- 
tions with alcohol were made by single polarization — alcoholic solutions 
not lending themselves easily to inversion. The green coloring matter 
extracted by the alcohol is a serious objection' to its use in extracting 
sugar from the chips. 

Several experiments were also made to determine the sugar by exhaust- 
ing the chips with alcohol in an extractor. Both fresh and dried chips 
were used. With dried chips the process is much more successful than 
with the fresh. The time employed in extraction varied from one hour 
to four days. The result of these experiments in varying the time is to 
show that little advantage accrues from extending the time of extrac- 
tion beyond two hours. In nearly all cases the fresh chips were 
thoroughly bruised in a mortar with i)ure sand before being placed in 
the extraction tube. The mean percentage of sugar as determined by 
.the extraction of the chips with alcohol was nearly 2 per cent, less 



88 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDU.>TRY. 



thau calculatiou from the composition of the juice indicated. The fur- 
ther prosecution of this method was therefore abandoned. 

Table No. 6 contains results of analyses of chips heated for one hour 
at lOQo 0. in a closed bottle, with five times their weight of water. 

In Table No. 7 the same as above, except that the heating was con- 
tinned for two hours. 

BAGASSES. 

Table No. 8 contains analyses of bagasses from canes from which the 
mill juice given in the table was expressed. The theoretical composition 
of the bagasse was calculated as follows : 

(1 .) The total juice in the canes is taken at 89 per cent, of their weight 
for sorghum and 92 per cent, for sugar-cane. 

(2.) The weight of the bagasses, except in the case of the Louisiana 
canes, was 36 per cent, that of the canes. 

(3.) The total weight of juice remaining in the bagasse was therefore 
36—11=25 per cent, of total weight of cane, i. 6., 100 kilograms cane 
contain 89 kilograms juice and 11 kilograms cellulose, &c., and 36 kilo- 
grams bagasse contain 25 kilograms juice and 11 kilograms cellulose, &c. 

The juice marked No. 1 in table gave an analysis 10.38 per cent, su- 
crose and 2.41 per cent, of other sugars. In 25 kilograms j uice, therefore, 
there will be .1038x25=2.595 kilograms of sucrose and .0241x25=.602 
kilograms of other sugars. Then 2.595-^36= percentage sucrose in the 
bagasse = 7.21, and .602-^36= percentage other sugars in bagasse = 1.67. 

In Table No. 9 the same conditions obtain as in No. 8, except that the 
boiling was continued twice as long. 

Table No. 10 contains analyses of bagasses boiled with five successive 
portions of water. Each portion was somewhat larger in weight than 
the bagasse, and the boiling each time was prolonged ten to fifteen min- 
utes. 

Table No. 11, same as above, only ten extractions were made instead 
of five. 

Table No. 12, bagasses heated in closed bottle one hour, with five times 
weight of water. 

Table No. 13, same as above, heated for two hours. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 

Table No. I. — Qane chips boiled with five times weight of water. 
Time, average, one hour and thirty minutes. 



89 



14 

15 i 

16 ' 



Character of 
sample 



Method of analysis. 



1 j Juice Optical and reducing. 

2 i Chips Copper 

3 do Optical 

4 I do do 

5 do ...i do 

6 ... do i Copper •. .. 

7 do do 

8 Juice i Optical and reducing. 



9 Chips 

10 i. .. do 

11 ^ do 

12 i Juice 

13 j Chips 



Copper 

Permanganate 

Optical 

Optical and reducing. 

Optical 

do 

Permanganate 

Copper 



38 
66 
33 
43 
78 
35 
29 
38 
07 
46 
3. 96 



2.41 
2. 09 



1. 98 
2. 14 

2. 72 
2. 24 
2. 69 



2. 43 



9. 24 
9. 24 
9. 24 
9.24 
9. 24 
9. 24 



2. 14 



2.14 
2. 14 



8.35 2.42 
8.35 2.42 
8. 35 I 



2. 16 



2. 16 
2. 16 



0. 58 
0.91 

0. 81 

1. 46 
1. 89 
1. 95 



1. 28 

0. 89 

1. 38 



1. 01 
1. 02 

0. 86 

1. 82 



1. 22 



Table No. II. — Cane chips boiled with five times weight of water. 
Time, average, three hours. 



Character of 
sample. 



Method of analysis. 



Optical and reducing 

Copper 

Optical 

do .. 

do 

Copper 

do 

Optical and reducing 

Copper 

Permanganate 

Optical 

do 

Optical and reducing 

Optical 

do 

Permanganate 

Copper 



10. 38 
8. 07 

7. 79 

8. 76 
7. 86 

5. 28 

6. 87 

9. 38 

7. 41 

6. 25 

7. 34 
7. 69 
9. 69 
7.83 
7.49 
7. 59 
5. 38 



Mean 



2.41 
2. 17 



L 99 
2. 17 
2. 72 
2.21 
2. 68 



2. 43 



2. 93 
2. 35 



a cs 



9. 24 
9.24 
9. 24 
9. 24 
9.24 
9. 24 



8. 35 
8. 35 
8. 35 
8. 35 



.sis 
o § a 

+i O 



2. 14 
2. 14 



2. 42 
2. 42 



2. 16 



2. 16 
2. 16 



L 17 
1.45 
0. 48 
L 38 
3.96 
2. 37 



0. 94 
2. 10 
1.01 
0. 66 

0. 85 
1. 19 
L 09 
8. 30 

L 92 



Doubling the time of boiling appears to liave no good effect on the 
results. The mean deficiency of sucrose is increased from 1.22 to 1.92 
per cent. 



90 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Table No. III. — Cane chips boiled with five successive portions of water, each portionr a 
little greater than the volume of chips. 

Boiled twenty minutes each time. 



Character of 
sample. 



Juice 
Chips . 

.'.'.Ao'.. 
... do .. 

do.. 
...do. 
....do .. 

Juice . . 

Chips . 

Juice . 

Chips . 



Method of analysis. 



Optical and reducing . . 

Optical 

do 

do 

Copper 

do 

do 

do 

Optical and reducing . . 

Optical 

Optical and reducing . . 

Optical 

do 



Mean 



10. 38 

8. 79 

9. 21 
8.41 
7. 84 
6.73 
7. 86 
7. 02 
9. 38 
7. 10 
9. 69 
7. 69 
6. 80 



2. 41 



2. 09 
2. 05 
2. 08 
2. 05 
2. 72 



o 5 



btcs 






sucrost 
t. 


<o 
ft 


her s 
caici 
le. 


ce 
o 


ent. of ot 
in cane 
from juic 


iency of 
per cen 


o 

CO 


Perc 
ars 
ted 


Defic 


Exce 



9.24 
9.24 
9. 24 
9. 24 
9. 24 
9. 24 
9. 24 



2. 14 
2. 14 
2. 14 
2. 14 



35 



2. 43 



0. 45 
0. 03 



2. 22 
i.'25' 



05 
0. 09 
0. 06 
0. 09 



0. 07 



This method does not secure better results than the preceding ones. 

Table No. IV. — Cane chips boiled ivith ten successive portions of water, ea h portion a little 
greater than the volume of chips. 

Boiled ten minutes each time. 



Character of 
sample. 



Method of analysis. 



2i ® 



;-, ^ :i 



ft 

ID 
O 

H 



o a 

4) 

§ S 

0) 



Juice Optical and reducing 

Chips Optical 

do I do 

Juice Optical and reducing 

Chips Optical 

Juice Optical and reducing 

Chips Optical 

do do 



Mean 



10. 28 

8. 36 
7. 89 

9. 38 
7. 66 
9. 69 
7. 61 
7. 76 



2. 41 



0. 88 

1. 35 



2. 72 
2.' 43' 



35 



L 07 
0. 92 



In this series of analyses no determinations were made of reducing 
sugars. The mean deficiency of sucrose is v considerably' less than by the 
preceding methods. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUiSTRY. 

Table No. V. — Cane chips exhausted ivith alcohol. 



91 



Character of 
sample. 



Method of analysis. 



do 

do 



Mean 



Optical and reducing 10. 38 

Optical I 7. 80 

do 7.50 



8.10 
6.87 



7. 50 
7. 70 



2. 41 



•-1 



4i cS 

S ® ® 
S s 



a .a 

^ is * 
P4 



9. 24 
9. 24 



9. 24 
9. 24 



9.24 
9. 24 



1.44 
1.74 



1.14 
2. 37 



1. 74 
1. 54 



Remarks. 



Boiled with five 
successive por- 
tions of alcohol. 

Boiled -with ten 
successive por- 
tions of alcohol. 

Boiled with five 
times volume of 
alcohol for one 
hour. 



The results given by treatment with alcohol are not encouraging. 
The green color of the extract makes accurate polarizations difficult. 
Animal char does not readily discharge the green color. 

Table No. Yl.— Heated in closed hottlefor one hour at 100° 6 with five times weight of water 



Character of 
sample. 



Method of analysis. 



Juice ! Optical and reducing 9. 75 

Chips I Optical 8. 67 

...do i do 8. 73 

...do I do I 9.33 

...do ; do I 8.98 

. . - do I Permanganate 8. 34 

...do I Copper ! 8.21 

Juice ! Optical and reducing . . . . ! 8. 79 

Chips : Optical i 7. 66 |. 

...do ! do I 8.14 I. 

do I Copper 7. 29 

do { Permanganate I 8. 81 

Juice 1 Optical and reducing 11. 95 

Optical 11. 52 

do 11.43 

Permanganate 10. 83 



2. 33 



Or-' 



5§ P 



.2 o mr^ 



„ a 
"J 
I* 
2 ^ 
'o 

® 



3 




5 • 


i 








J§ 




11 


II 

r 


o ® 
to ^ 

02 
<S 

o 
X 



0. 01 



2. 07 
2. 07 



0. 34 
0.47 



L79 t 
1.93 I 
2.50 



7. 82 



L 86 
1. 86 



Chips- 



0. 05 
0. 65 
0. 30 



0.11 
0. 13 



10.64 

10.64 ! j 0.79 

2. 23 1 i 0.19 0.33 



Mean 



0. 52 0. 16 



0. 07 



The results of this method are extremely satisfactory for both sucrose 
and reducing sugar. In five cases the mean deficiency of sucrose was 
0.30 per cent. In eight cases the mean excess of sucrose was 0.52 per 
cent. The results with the reducing sugars, as the table shows, are 
even better. 



92 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Table No. YII. — Cane chips heated in closed bottle for two hours with five times weight 

oj water. 



Character of 
sample. 



Method of analysis. 



fl a 

03'*-' 



OSS 

-ts o 

fc- 53 ® 
Ah 



.1- 

3 
Q 



II 



J nice . 

Chips . 
...do . 

do . 
....do . 



Optical and reducing 
Optical 



do 
.do 
.do 



do I Copper 

Juice I Optical and reducing 

Chips Optical 

. . . do do 

do Copper 

do Permanganate 

Juice Optical and reducing 

Chips Optical 

do do 

do Permanganate 



9. 75 
8. 76 

8. 75 

9. 34 
9. 34 
8. 39 
8. 79 
8. 05 

7. 99 
6. 16 

8. 68 

11. 95 

12. 02 
12. 26 
11. 81 



2. 33 



0. 08 
0. 07 
0. 66 
0. 66 



1. 92 

2. 09 



2. 07 



0. 29 



0.15 



2. 08 
1.70 
2. 50 



1. 97 



Mean 0. 97 0, 



7. 82 
7. 82 
7. 82 
7. 82 



0. 23 
0. 17 



10. 64 
10. 64 
10. 64 



2. 23 



0.16 



1.; 

1.62 I 

1. 17 0. 26 



0. 22 



0. 19 0. 22 



While the results in this table are satisfactory, it does not appear that 
heating the sample for more than an hour is of any use. 

Table No. VIII. — Bagasse boiled with five times weight of water. 
Average time, one hour and thirty minutes. 



Character of 
sample. 



Method of analysis. 



«2 

O e$ 




Juice Optical and reducing 

Bagasse i Permanganate 

Juice I Optical and reducing 

Bagasse 1 Optical 

do do 

-.do Copper 

. do Permanganate 

Juice Optical and reducing . . 

Bagasse Copper 

do Permanganate 

do Optical 

. . do do 



10, 38 
6. 03 
9. 38 
6. 09 

5. 83 

6. 00 
5. 60 
9. 69 
5. 03 
4. 10 
5. 38 
5. 03 



2. 41 
2. 02 
2. ,72 



7. 21 



L 97 
2.18 
2. 43 
1.95 
2. 00 



6. 51 
6.51 
6. 51 
6. 51 



6. 73 
6. 73 
6. 73 
6. 73 



Mean 1. 23 



L67 L18 



89 0.42 

...I 0.68 
89 ' 0.51 
89 0.91 



L 70 
2. 63 
L 35 
1.70 



0. 35 



0. 08 
0. 29 



0. 26 
0. 31 



0. 26 



The method is unsatisfactory. The results show either inversion of 
cane sugar in boiling the bagasse with water, or that in crushing a 
larger percentage of sucrose than of other sugars is expressed. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



93 



Table No. IX. — Bagasse boiled with five times weight of water. 
Average time, three hours. 



Character of 
sample. 



Juice . 
Bagasse 
Juice . . . 
Bagasse 

...Ao..'. 
....do ... 

Juice . . . 

Bagasse 

'. V. Ao v. 
..do ... 



Method of analysis. 



Optical and reducing 

Permanganate 

Optical and reducing 

Optical 

do 

Copper 

Permanganate 

Optical and reducing 

Copper 

Permanganate 

Optical 

do 



Mean 



10. 38 
5. 41 



5.87 
5. 90 

4:J 
5. 43 



6. 18 

5. 29 
.5.01 

6. 30 



2. 41 

1. 58 

2. 72 



2. 04 
2. 30 
2. 43 

1. 97 

2. 01 



.91 

OS eS 



S'3 



P3 OS ~ 



7. 21 



6. 51 
6.51 
6.51 
6.51 



6. 73 
6.73 
6. 73 
6. 73 



bD0 

2 ® 

g o 2 

® 2 



1. 67 



54i 
la 



0.64 

0. 61 

1. 08 
1. 08 



0. 55 
1. 44 

1. 72 
0. 43 

1.04 



® 5S 



This table is additional evidence of the truth of the statement made at 
the end of the preceding one. 

Table No. X — Bagasse boiled with fine successive portions of water. 



s 


Character of 
sample. 


Method of analysis. 


Per cent, of sucrose. 


Per cent, of other sug- 
ars. 


Per cent, of sucrose in 
bagasse calculated 
from juice. 


Per cent, of other sug- 
ars in bagasse calcu- 
lated from juice. 


Deficiency of sucrose, 
per cent. 


Excess of sucrose, 
per cent. 


Deficiency of other 
sugars, per cent. 


Excess of other sugars, 
per cent. 


1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 


Juice 


Optical and reducing . . . 


10.38 
6. 37 
9. 38 
6. 22 
5. 10 
9. 69 
2. 49 
5. 79 


2. 41 
L 84 
2. 72 














Bagasse 


7. 21 


1.67 


0. 84 

0. 29 
L41 

4. 24 
0. 94 






0. 17 


Juice 


Optical and reducing 

Optical 







Bagasse 


6. 51 
6. 51 

"e. 73 












do 












J nice 


Optical and reducing 


2. 43 








Bagasse 










do 


6. 73 














1"" 














L 54 






0. 17 














This method gives results similar to the two preceding ones. 



94 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Table No. XI. — Bagasse boiled with ten successive portions of water. 



Number. | 


CbcirRcter of 
sample. 


Method of analysis. 


1 

Per cent, of sucrose. 


Per cent, of other sug- 
ars. 


Per cent, of sucrose in 
bagasse calculated 
from juice. 


Per cent, of other sug- 
ars in bagasse calcu- 
lated from Juice. 


Deficiency of sucrose, 
per cent. 


Excess of sucrose, 
per cent. 


Deficiency of other 
sugars', per cent. 


Excess of other sugars, 
per cent. 


1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 


Juice 


Optical and reducing 

Optical 


9. 38 
6. 22 
5.48 
9. 69 
3. 20 
6.11 


2. 72 
















6. 51 
6. 51 




29 
1. 03 




...... 




Bagasse 

Juice 


do 












Optical and reducing 

Optical 


2. 43 










Bagasse 


6. 73 
6. 73 




3. 53 
0. 62 








do 


do 






























1. 37 

























1^0 marked advantage seems to accrae fro'n iiicreasiag the number of 
extractions above five. 

Table No. XII. — Bagasse lieated in closed hottle at 1^0° C. for one hour with five times its 

weight of water. 



Character of 
sample. 



Method of analysis. 



^ « 5 

o 

S =s « 



Juice Optical and reducing 9. 75 

Bagfcsse Copper < 7. 16 

....do \ Optical 6. .50 

do i do ! 6.29 

do i do 1 6.84 

do I do 6. .57 

7 Juice I Optical and reducing 8. 79 

8 Bagasse Permanganate 5. 79 

9 ....do Copper 6.13 

10 ....do Optical 6.66 

'11 Juice Optical and reducing 11. 95 

12 Bagasse Permanganate 8. 54 

13 do Optical 7.74 

14 ;....do do 8.20 



2. 07 


6. 77 




6. 77 




6. 77 




6. 77 




6. 77 


2.09 




2. 14 


6. 10 


1. 87 


6. 10 




6. 10 


2.50 




L 71 


' ' 'S. 08 




8. 08 




8. 08 



L 62 



0. 27 
0. 48 



0. 61 

6.' 15" 



L 45 
1. 45 



L 82 



0. 20 
0. 31 

6.' 44' 



0. 03 



0. 34 



0. 46 0. 11 
0.12 



0. 34 0. 27 



* Louisiana cane. 



This method, as with the cane chips, gives results which are entirely 
satisfactory. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 95 



Table No. XIII. — Bagasse heated in closed dottle for two hours with five times its weight 

of water. 



Number. | 


i ft* p+AT* r»"P 


Method of analysis. 


Per cent of sucrose. 


Percent, of other sug- 
ars. 


Per cent, of sucrose in | 
bagasse calculated ! 
from juice. 


Per cent, of other sug- ■ 
ars in bagasse calcu- 
lated from juice. 


Deficiency of sucrose, j 
per cent. i 


Excess of sucrose, 
per ceut. 


Deficiency of other 
sugars, per cent. 


Excess of other sugars,; 
per cent. 


1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
*11 
12 
13 
14 


J uice 


Optical and reducing 

Optical 


9. 75 

5. 95 

6. 05 
6. 23 
6.17 
8. 79 
6.16 
5. 93 
5. 95 

5. 60 
11. 95 

8. 45 

6. 71 
8. 55 


2. 33 














Bagasse 


6. 77 
6. 77 
6. 77 
6. 77 




0. 82 
0. 72 
0. 54 
0. 60 








do 


do 












. . do 


do 






... do 


do 








J uice 


Optical and reducing .... 

Pfil'TlinTKTfl.TiatP, 


2. 09 


...... 








RporossPi 


2. 05 


fi. 1ft 


1.45 
1.45 




0. 06 




0. 60 
0. 39 


f\rt _ Cnnnpr . 


1. 84 fi. 1ft 


0. 17 
0.15 
0. 50 




....do 

....do 

•Juice - . 






6. 10 
6. 10 






do 










Optical and reducing 

Permanganate 


2.50 
1. 74 




0. 37 






Bagasse 


8. 08 
8. 08 
8. 08 


1.82 




0. 08 




Optical 


1. 37 




..-•-do 


do 






0.47 








Mean 
















0. 61 


0. 30 


0. 08 


0. 49 













Louisiana cane. 



advantage is obtained by prolonging the boiling to two hours. 

ANALYSIS OF CANES AND BA&ASSES IN CLOSED BOTTLES. 

This method of analysis is the only one of the various procedures tried 
that gives results as near theory as the difficulty of sampling will allow. 
It is, therefore, worthy of a detailed descr iption. 

THE APPARATUS. 

For polariscopes like the Laurent shadow instrument, taking 16.19 
gms. sucrose, volume 100 c. c, for a normal charge, the bottle should hold 
about 300 c. c. It should be strong, of well-annealed glass, and furnished 
with a patent rubber stopper, such as is commonly used on beer bottles. 

The bottle should have a long neck, plainly marked at 305.4 c.c. This 
bottle should be of such a size that this mark will fall at the junction 
. of the lower third of the neck with the upper two-thirds. It is perfectly 
safe to assume that the volume occupied by the cellulose and insoluble 
parts of the chips is equal to a volume of water of the same weight. It 
is also safe to assume, for sorghum canes in general, that the cellulose 
amounts to 11 per cent, of the total weight of the cane, and, in tropical 
cane, to 8 or 9 ])er cent. 

For sorghum canes, therefore, the volume occupied by the cellulose of 
16.19 X 3 grams of cane chips would be 5.4c. c. (16.19 x 3 x 11 =5.4 nearly). 

The total volume, therefore, should be 305.4 in order to make the mix- 
ture normal for the polariscope. It is best, however, to have the neck 
of the extraction bottle marked with other volumes, e. at 304.4 c. c. for 
Southern sugar cane. 



96 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



The weight of cellulose in 16.1 gms., fresh sorghum-cane chips, is 
1.772 gms. This weight of perfectly exhausted cane pulp was put into 
each of five flasks with the normal weight of sugar (16.19 gms.), and the 
volume made up to 100 c. c. 

The sugar solution was then filtered and polarized, and compared 
with a solution of sugar of the same volume to which no pulp had been 
added. The following are the results of the experiments : 



No. 


Description. 


Polariza- 
tion. 


Theory 
witli pulp. 


Variation. 






Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


1 


Sugar without pulp . . 


98.5 






2 


With pulp 


101.0 


100. 25 


+.75 


3 


. . do 


101.0 


100. 25 


+.75 1 


4 


....do 


100.0 


100. 25 


—.25 


5 


.-..do 


101. 


100. 25 


+.75 





...do . 


100.0 


100. 25 


-.25 



Perhaps a greater number of determiuations should be made before 
assigning a definite number to the influence of the cellulose. The re- 
sults of the table, however, show that practically the correction assumed 
is of the proper magnitude. I 

THE MANIPULATION. 

The chief care should be given to taking the sample. As large a 
quantity as is convenient of the canes (or bagasses) should be passed 
through the cutter and chopped as fine as possible. The chopped mass 
is then thoroughly mixed and the sample taken. After weighing the 
chips are transferred to the bottle, the vessel in which they were weighed 
rinsed with water, and the washings poured into the bottle. This is 
then filled to the mark, closed, and placed in cold water, which is rap- 
idly heated to ebullition. After an hour the bottle is removed, cooled 
slowly (do not put at once into cold water), and the solution filtered for 
polarization or reduction. (Before filling with water a few c. c. of 
basic acetate of lead should be added ; or the bottle may not be filled 
quite to the mark, and after cooling lead acetate is added and the vol- 
ume made up to the standard.) 

By having a large number of bottles many analyses can be carried on 
at once. Since an even sample is so hard to get it is always advisable 
to make the analyses in duplicate or triplicate and take the mean of the 
results. 

USE OF SULPHUR. 

The use of sulphurous dioxide (sulphur fumes) in sugar work has a 
threefold purpose. (I.) It assists in defecation. (2.) It bleaches the 
coloring matters of the juice. (3.) It prevents fermentation. 

I hav^e already alluded to the use of sulphur as lime bisulphite, and 
will confine this section to a discussion of the application of sulphurous 
dioxide directly to the juice. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



97 



MANUFACTURE OF SULPHUROUS DIOXIDE (SOg). 

(I.) The simplest method of mau ufac taring this article is by burning 
sulphur. This should be done in furnaces made of fire-brick, since hot 
iron is readily attacked by sulphur. 

(2.) Sulphurous dioxide is also readily tormed by heating charcoal 
with strong sulphurous acid (oil of vitriol). 

(3.) It may also be made by treating some sulphite or bisulphite (as 
lime, &c.) with a stronger acid, e. g.^ oil of vitriol. 

The sulphurous acid used in sugar or sirup making is manufactured 
in one of the three ways mentioned. 

PROPERTIES. 

Sulphurous dioxide (or acid) is a colorless gas, more than twice as heavy 
as air. Its odor is familiar in the fumes of a burning sulphur match. The 
gas is very soluble in water, 1 volume of the latter absorbing about 
40 volumes of the gas at ordinary temperature. One litre of water, 
therefore, will absorb nearly 115 grams of the gas, or one gallon of water 
at 60^ F. saturated with the gas will contain of it a little more than 10 
ounces. 

In aqueous solution sulphurous acid (it becomes an acid by solution 
in water) easily undergoes oxidation, and its bleaching power is due to 
this process, by which nascent hydrogen is set free, which attacks the 
coloring matter. An equivalent amount of sulphuric acid is always 
formed. It is therefore advisable to use lime (or some base which will 
form an insoluble compound) with sulphurous acid in order to form a 
precipitate with the sulphuric acid which is produced. 

Sulphurous dioxide, by a freezing mixture (as ice and salt), or by 
pressure, is easily condensed to a colorless liquid which is about one- 
half heavier than water. This liquid boils at a temperature of 8^ 0. 
below zero. I would suggest that it might prove profitable both to sugar 
manufacturer and chemist to prepare this liquid oxide at a central fac- 
tory and ship it in suitable iron vessels to the sugar works. In this 
way the sugar-maker could always have at hand ani under complete 
<jontrol a pure article of sulphurous dioxide. ^ 

The antiseptic properties of this body are even more marked than its 
bleaching powers. In a substance so prone to fermentation as cane 
and beet juice such a preserving agent is of the utmost importance. 
Dilute cane juices saturated with the gas or a bisulphite may be kept, 
for days and even years unfermented. 

APPLICATION; 

The gas may be applied directly to the juice — 

(1.) By conducting it into the vessel containing the juice and allow- 
ing it to be absorbed. 
16435 N s 6 



98 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 

The juice should be cold, and the tube delivering the gas (lead or 
copper) end in an expanded nozzle covered with a plate of fine holes. 

In some cases the tank is furnished with a copper coil perforated with 
small holes. A more even distribution of the gas throughout the 
liquid is thus obtained. 

If the gas is formed by burning sulphur it is pumped first through a 
wash-bottle and then into the tank. 

(2.) The juice may be mixed with the gas in a sulphur box. 

The sulphur box may be used in two ways. 

(a) A tight box (Fig. 9) is constructed of a size proportionate to 



JUICE 




Fig. 9. 



the quantity of juices to be sulphurized. For a mill grinding 25 tons 
of cane per day the box should be 8 feet high and 3 feet square. 
Shelves with fine perforations are attached alternately to opposite 
sides of the box. They are set so as to facilitate the flow of the liquid 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY 



99 



towards their free edges. The perforations should be sufficiently numerous 
to allow nearly the whole volume of juice to pass through each shelf 
in drops or spray. The sulphur is burned in the furnace {B), passes 
through a horizontal flue {€). in the bottom of which is water for 
the purpose of absorbing any sulphuric acid that may be formed 
during the combustion.* The sulphur fumes enter the box and pass 
back and forth upward through the box. At (0), a steam pipe is inserted 
in the flue so that additional draft may be secured. If the flue, how- 
ever, be made high, little use for the steam jet will be found. The juice 
comes from the mill through the pipe {A.) If the mill be on the same 
line with the sulphur box a pump should be attached to it to elevate 
the juice to the proper altitude. This method of sulphurizing is sim- 
ple and economical, and, if care be given to the furnace to secure a reg. 
ular combustion of the sulphur, reasonably satisfactory. 

(b) A better method of mixing the gas with the juice is found in the 
mechanism represented in Fig. 10. The figure represents a section 
through the center of the sulphur box. 



J ft. lOin. 




■-6/t, 



.X = liJet fai' SOg^^as 

CROSS SECTION. 

Fig. 10. 

The sulphur fumes enter through the opening (X) in the side of the 
box. A flue from the furnace where the sulphur is burned fits into the 
opening. The paddle-wheels turn in the direction of the arrows and 
with a velocity sufficient to throw into spray the juice entering the in- 
let and project it on to the shelf, whence it passes through the outlet 
to a juice tank. The paddle-wheel is so adjusted that there is always 
enough juice in the box to seal the inlet and thus prevent the air from 
entering. The box should be as nearly as possible air-tight. The suc- 
tion produced by the paddles makes a sufficient draft for the furnace. 
The proper speed of revolution of the wheel is one hundred and fifty 
to three hundred per minute. The box is used by Mr. E. W. Deming, 

Tor sirup making this is not necessary. 



100 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



of Lafayette Sugar Works. I am indebted to him for many courtesies 
received during the x)reparation of this report. 

APPARATUS FOR MAKING SULPHUROUS ACID OR LIME BISULPHITE 

FOR SMALL PLANTS. 

In working sorghum for sirup the use of sulphurous acid or lime bi- 
sulphite produces an article of superior merchantable properties. I 
will therefore give an account of an apparatus for the home manufac- 
ture of these articles. I append a description and cut of the apparatus. 




Fig. 1L 

I am indebted to Mr. W. L. Anderson for the following account of 
the apparatus and its history : 

(A) (Fig. 11). — Tank holdiug double tlie quantity of barrel (B). In this is placed 
a bushel of unslaked lime. The tank is then filled with water and the lime well stirred 
up and allowed to settle, when clear the water is ready to be drawn off. Fresh lime 
should occasionally be added to that in the tank so that the hydrate may be of a uni- 
form strength. It is best to add a little each time the tank is filled with Avater. 

(B) .— Barrel for forming the bisulphite. This is filled from the tank by opening 
the globe- valve on pipe (C), which enters the tank above the settled lime. After the 
barrel is almost filled add about 2 gallons of weak milk of lime. This barrel, as well 
as all others used for bisulphite, should be of hard wood. 

(D). — Furnace so made as to fit snugly around kettle (E.) It has a sheet-iron door, 
and a chimney. The kettle is hung by rods run through the ears and laid obliquely 
across the corners of the furnace. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



101 



(F) . — A jug so shaped as to fit tlie kettle, holding about 5 gallons. Under and 
around the jug is sand to prevent it from heating or cooling too suddenly. The jug 
should be heavily glazed inside. It is charged with about 2 gallons of charcoal and 
the same quantity of strong sulphuric acid. This will make 2 barrels of bisulphite, 
and start another, perhaps finish it. Before charging the jug again ascertain if the 
coal in the jug is dry ; if so, put in more sulphuric acid and less coal than you did 
before. When the residue gets too great take out the jug and clean it. 

(G) . — Copper pipe, three-quarter inch in diameter, used to convey the gas from the 
jug to the barrel. A rubber stopper, fitting the mouth of the jug is screwed on the end 
of the pipe entering the jug. The other end reaches almost to the bottom of the bar- 
rel. If gas leaks about the rubber stopper keep it down with weights, and put dough 
around the leak. It will take from six to eight hours to finish a barrel. As soon as 
you perceive a pungent odor escaping from the barrel cover the openings. You should 
have an opening through which you can stir the liquid occasionally. 

(H) . — Outlet made of two pieces of pipe and a globe-valve. 

This apparatus cost us |10.75. The sulphuric acid, coal, lime, and wood cost about 
50 cents per barrel of bisulphite. The labor required in manufacturing is but trifling. 

If you wish to make sulphurous acid, charge the barrel with pure water and pro- 
ceed as in making bisulphite. A wash bottle " (6r) can be used between the jug and 
barrel (B). This will improve tlie product. 

In the year 1860 we bought 6 gallons of bisulphite of lime, as an experiment, pay- 
ing 50 cents per gallon. From that time to the present we have made no sirup with- 
out it. We paid |1I per barrel and freight, which made it almost for all we used 
from 1861 to 1873. 

In using our bisulphite we put it into the cold juice just before the tank is full 
The old rule was, " a quart to 50 gallons of juice." But there is no invariable rule. 
The quality of the bisulphite, the quality of the juice, and the amount of lime used, 
will vary the amount. 

I have made a few changes in the sketch of the apparatus as furnished 
by Mr. Anderson. 

Instead of using a stone jug as a generator, it would be better to 
employ one made of cast iron. Strong sulphuric acid, even when hot, 
acts very slowly on iron. Care must be exercised, however, to avoid 
using the dilute acid, which would rapidly dissolv^e the iron. 

Instead of copper pipes lead or glass may be used. The wash-bottle 
should be of strong glass, and of at least 2 gallons capacity. It should be 
filled with water to the mark indicated in the drawing. The stopper 
should have three perforations, one to carry the tube (G). This tube 
should extend to near the bottom of the bottle. 

The second hole is for the tube (6), which should begin about 2 inches 
below the stopper and extend nearly to the bottom of the barrel (B.) The 
third aperture carries the safety tube (a), which ends about an inch below 
the liquid in the wash-bottle. This tube prevents any regurgitations 
from the barrel into the generator. The heat should be applied slowly, 
and regulated by watching the flow of gas through the wash-bottle.* 

HARVESTING CANE. , 

In the sugar industry every device that promises to serve true econ- 
omy is worthy of close attention. One of the best methods of harvest 

* A gasoline stove would be better than a furnace for heating the generator. Care 
should be taken not to raise the temperature above the point necessary for gradual 
evolution of the gas. 



102 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



iag caue, in my opinion, aside from the use of the tramway, is that 
practised by Mr. E. W. Deming, superintendent of the sirup works at 
West Point, Ind. 

Following is his description of the method of harvesting, taken from 
the Eural World, of Saint Louis : 

" Stripping costs from one and one-half to three dollars x^er acre. 
Cane with leaves on loads easier, rides without slipping, dumps bet- 
ter, men at the mill prefer to handle it, and it feeds better at the mill. 
Some claim the leaves fill in between the stalks as it passes through the 
mill, giving a higher per cent, of j uice. Some claim cannot pass as many 
stalks through the mill in a given time as with stripped cane, but this 
surely will not compensate for the expense of stripping and inconven- 
ience in handling. Oane is handled on platform wagons made expressly 
for that purpose. The forward wheels average 34 inches in diameter, 3 
inches tire, and 3 foot tread. The rear wheels average 38 inches in diame- 
ter, 4-inch tire, and 5-foot tread. Platform JL2 feet long, 5J feet wide, 
evenly balanced on rear axle. The wheels are entirely under the platform. 
A good team with these wagons will haul a ton on soft ground, where a 
lumber wagon would cut down 8 inches. The cutter with his left arm 
bends over a few stalks of the outside row, cutting them so they fall 
directly from the rows; following him is a man who grasps the fallen 
stalks just below the tuft, until he has all he can clasp with one hand 
then, taking one step directly from the cane, he drops the heads in a 
bunch, the buts being spread out fan-shaped. Oane is cut in lands, same 
as plowing. If cane stands up well, one cutter will keep two men picking 
up; if down or tangled, one man will pick it up. As the cane wagon 
follows, the driver grasps with one hand the stalks of cane just below 
the tuft and raises the armful with the other, throwing it on the wagon 
with the heads projecting over as far as you wish to top them. When 
the wagon is loaded the tops are all on one side and even. The wagon 
is then driven to some high, dry place, where you wish to deposit the 
seed, when the driver, with a heavy hay-knife, with a straight handle, 
cuts off the heads with a few blows. The wagon now goes to the foot 
of the carrier, where it is dumped in ten seconds and ready to return to 
the field. The cane is handled with no regard to the evenness of the 
butts, and would be a little inconvenient for hand-fed mills, especially 
if cane was unstripped. By this method the small canes or suckers are 
left on the ground. The seed is left in piles where it can be easily 
loaded on wagons with a fork, leaving no scattered seed for a volun- 
teer crop." 

THE POLARISCOPE. 

The polariscope, or optical saccharometer, is an instrument designed 
to measure the quantity of sucrose in any sugar solution. It depends 
on the principle i hat a plane of polarized light passing through a tube 
containing a solution of sucrose is twisted toward the right (like the 
movement of the hands of a clock), and the degree of this rotation is 
proportionate to the amount of sugar in solution. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



103 



Two kinds of polariscope are in common use : 

(1) Those which use ordinary light, like that of a lamp or the sun. 

(2) Those which use light of one color (monochromatic light). 

The first kind is more expensive and more convenient as regards the 
source of light ; the second, cheaper and more accurate. 




The chief objection to the use of a polariscope in small sugar works 
is [a) the cost and (b) the absence of any one skilled in its use. 

Polariscopes of the finest construction and large size cost several 
hundred dollars, while even those less carefully constructed and smaller 
in size cannot be had for much less than $100. 

• The figure (12) contains a view of the apparatus necessary for mak- 
ing an optical analysis of the juices of the cane. 



104 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



The polariscope containing the apparatus for converting ordinary into 
polarized light ; device for analyzing the polarized ray and the divided 
circle and vernier for measuring and reading the amount of rotation. 

Lamp for furnishing monochromatic light (a gas lamp furnished with 
spoons of platinum which carry fragments of fused common salt). 

Pipettes for measuring the sugar solution. 

Hydrometer for determining specific gravity. 

The specific gravity having been determined it is easy to calculate 
the weight of solution taken from the volume measured in the burette. 
Thus if 10 cubic centimeters be measured the specific gravity of which 
is 1.06, the total weight of the juice taken is 1.06x10=10.6 grams. 

The instrument figured in the cut is so adjusted that 16.19 grams 
of pure sugar dissolved and made up to 100 cubic centimeters will read 
100 on the scale. A fifteen cubic centimeter pipette should be used for 
ordinary cane juices. This volume (15 cubic centimeters) wyi weigh 
so nearly 16.19 grams that the difference uiay be neglected. 

By using a pipette in this way or a burette, no balance is required, 
and thus a very expensive piece of apparatus is dispensed with. 

Burette for the more exact measurement of juice. 

Basic acetate of lead. This chemical is prepared by taking ordinary 
sugar of lead and boiling a strong solution of it for some time with an 
excess of litharge (oxide of lead). The solution is then filtered and 
must be kept in a well-stoppered bottle. 

Funnels, filter-stands, and filter-papers. 

Flasks, graduated for making solutions up to standard volume. 

THE PROCESS. 

Measure out as nearly as possible 16.2 grams (or two or three times 
that amount) into the 100 cubic centimeter flask. 

Add two or three cubic centimeters of the basic acetate of lead solu- 
tion, and then fill up to the mark with pure water. 

Shake the flask well, holding the ball of the thumb on its mouth, and 
filter into the tube of observation. When the tube is full, put on the 
cap and place in the polariscope. Having adjusted the light, turn the 
instrument until both halves of the field of vision are of the same tint. 
In the monochromatic instrument, before adjustment one-half of the 
field of vision will appear dark and the other yellow. 

The disk is now turned until both halves are equally illuminated. 
In the other instrument one-half the field of vision will be blue and the 
other rose-red. The adjustment is now made until both halves appear 
alike. 

Through the small microscope which is focused on the vernier is now 
read ofl' the number of divisions through which the analyzer has been 
turned. This number is the percentage of sugar if 16.2 gms. of the orig- 
inal juice have been taken. Otherwise it is to be divided by the num- 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



105 



ber of times that weight used. (In some instraments other weights are 
normal, e. g., 26.048 gms. With each instrument will be found instruc- 
tions giving the weight of sugar to which the scale is graduated.) 

A good deal of practice is necessary to use the polariscope accurately 
and quickly, but I do not see why any person endowed with ordinary 
ingenuity may not determine the percentage of sucrose in cane juices 
with a reasonable degree of accuracy by means of the polariscope. 

More accurate analyses, as well as analyses of sirup and meladas, 
must be left in the hands of the chemist. 

The flasks, burettes, funnels, &c., necessary to the analyses of cane 
juices (excluding the polariscope), ought not to cost more than $10. 

The intending purchaser should get: 3 pipettes 5, 10, and 15 c. c. 
capacity ; 6 sugar flasks, marked on neck at 100, and 110 c. c. ; 2 bu- 
rettes; 6 funnels 5 2 quires filter paper ; 2 hydrometers. The other 
apparatus he can easily improvise. 

This apparatus can be had of any dealer in chemical supplies. 



The high price of the ordinary polariscope, the delicacy of its adjust- 
ment, and the skill required in its use, have made it desirable that 



TEANNIN'S POLARISCOPE. 





Fig. 13. — Traunin's polariscope. 



106 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



a more simple and a cheaper instrument should be devised for general use. 

Mr. Trannin, a French sugar chemist, has attempted this, and has in- 
vented an apparatus which in simplicity leaves nothing to be desired. 

Fig. 13 shows this instrument. (2) Fig. 13 shows the appearance of 
the field of vision when the tube [t], which holds the sugar solution, is 
empt}^ or not adjusted. (1) Fig. 13 represents the same when the sugar 
solution is in the tube, and the adjustment made, ready for reading. 
No particular skill is required in the use of this instrument, audi have 
found that successive readings do not dilfer by more than one-half of 
one per cent. 

It promises therefore to be of great use to manufacturers. 
I append Mr. Traunin's description of his invention. 

SACCHARIMETRE DES RAPERIES.* 

Impressed for a long time with the incoraple.e and often deceitful ideas which the 
use of the densimeter alone giVes, I have sought whether it might not he possible to 
devise a more rapid method of analysis of the juice (optically) and one more accessible 
to employes little skilled in polarimetry. 

The large saccharimeters aside from their very high price, are really very difficult 
to manipulate. The large number of pieces of which they are composed, their ar- 
rangement, and extreme delicacy of adjustment, create many causes of error. 

These instruments are touched with a sort of fear, and they are committed only to 
careful and skillful operators. 

The problem of light for the saccharimeter is often a cause of ennui and difficulty. 
Now it is the monochromatic light which is required by the instrument, and with it, 
its mode of xjroduction so troublesome. Again it is the delicate appreciation of the 
shadows, or the chromatic equalization impossible to be obtained by eyes affected 
with daltonism. These difficulties are real, and indeed some mauufacturers have been 
compelled to discontinue the use of the saccharimeters, not because these instruments 
were poor, but because their continual use was not practicable. 

It was to avoid these inconveniences that I ai)plied myself when I invented the 
little Saccharim^tre des raperies. " Have I succeeded? Practical experience, on 
which I rely in all confidence, will answer. 

First of all, I wished to do away with every kind of compensator, analyzing circle, 
and other movable optical pieces. The apparatus is thus reduced to three funda- 
mental pieces, viz, the polarizer, the polariscope and the analyzer. These pieces are 
all fixed and therefore cannot be put out of order. 

The light used may be either daylight or a gas or oil lamp. I have noticed, however, 
that the sensibility is greater witti artificial than with daylight. The appreciation of 
the critical phenomenon, i. e.,of the phenomenon which is to be obtained when the read- 
ing is made, is particularly easy. 

Two black bands are on the field of vision. These are to be brought exactly end to 
end and the reading is then made. 

This phenomenon is so easy of observation that persons the least accustomed to 
making readings do not show the least hesitation in reproducing them. 

Finally each one uses his usual means of vision. He who has normal sight does 
not need any aid. As to myopes and presbytes (long and short sight) they retain the 
glasses to which they are accustomed. The apparatus is therefore always ready for 
everybody. 

The reading is made directly on a scale graduated into hundredths and half hun- 
dredths of sugar. 

The apparatus is nickel-plated and consequently always clean and bright. t 

*Sucrerie indigene, vol. xxii, p. 329. 

+ Apparatus furnished by Queen & Co., Phiadelphia. 



NORTHERN SXJGAR INDUSTRY. 



107 



THE FUTURE. 

I do uot believe that the manufacture of sugar from sorghum, as at 
present carried on, will prove financially successful throughout the more 
northern portions of our country. 

The process of manufacture is imperfect and wasteful. A large part 
of the sugar is left in the bagasse and another larger part passes into 
the molasses. 

^^ot one-half of the sucrose in the juice is usually obtained as crystal- 
lized sugar. 

The future success of the industry depends on the following conditions, 
viz: 

(1.) A careful selection and improvement of the seed with a view of 
increasing the proportion of sucrose. 

(2.) A definition of geographical limits of successful culture and man- 
ufacture. 

(3.) A better method of purifying the juices. 

(4.) A more complete separation of the sugar from the canes. 

(5.) A more complete separation of the sugar from the molasses. 

(6.) A systematic utilization of by-products. 

(7.) A careful nutrition and improvement of the soil. 

EMPEOVEMENT BY SEED SELECTION. 

I am fully convinced that the Government should undertake the ex- 
periments which have in view the increase of the ratio of sucrose to the 
other substances in the juice. These experiments, to be valuable, must 
continue under proper scientific direction for a number of years. The 
cost will be so great that a private citizen will hardly be willing to un- 
dertake the expense. 

The history of the improvement in the sugar beet should be sufficient 
to encourage all similar efforts with sorghum. 

The original forage beet, from which the sugar beet has been devel- 
oped, contained only 5 or 6 i^er cent, of sucrose. The sugar beet now 
will average 10 per cent, of sucrose. It seems to me that a few years 
of careful selection may secure a similar improvement in sorghum. 

It would be a long step toward the solution of the problem to secure 
a sorghum that would average, field with field, 12 per cent, sucrose and 
only 2 per cent, of other sugars, and with such cane the great difficulty 
would be to make sirup and not sugar. Those varieties and individuals 
of each variety of cane which show the best analytical results should 
DC carefully selected for seed, and this selection continued until acci- 
dental variations become hereditar3' qualities in harmony with the well- 
known principles of descent. 

If these experiments in selection could be made in different parts of 
the country, and especially by the various agricultural stations and 
colleges, they would have additional value and force. In a country 



108 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



whose soil and climate are as diversified as in this, results obtained in 
one locality are not always reliable for another. 

If some unity of action could in this way be established among those 
engaged in agricultural research much time and labor would be saved 
and more valuable results be obtained. 

IMPROVED DEFECATION. 

In addition to experiments made with the ordinary methods of defe- 
cation during the past season, I have tried to apply the method in use 
with the beet juice in Europe. 

These experiments were all made in a small way, but I think are of 
sufficient importance to the future of the industry to deserve brief men- 
tion here. 

EXPERIMENTS IN DEFECATION. 

The method consists essentially in first adding a large quantity of 
lime to the juice and afterwards removing itby the injection of carbonic 
acid. 

The results of these experiments were most flattering. In many cases 
the coefficient of purity was considerably raised, and in all cases the 
defecated juice was limpid and clear, but of a reddish-yellow tinge. 
This coloration is due to a slight decoQiposing effect, which the lime, 
even in the cold, has on the anoptose, forming jj^ith it dark and bitter 
decomposition products. This deepening of color, however, does not 
affect the value of the process for sugar-making, although it would be 
an objection if sirup alone were the object of manufacture. 

A few results will show the workings of the method. 

No. (1). — A mill juice with a coefficient of purity of 61.60, after treat- 
ment as indicated above had this number raised to 69.12. In the same 
juice the percentage of albuminoids before defecation was 4.22,* and 
after defecation 3.42.* 

No. (2). — A diffusion juice before treatment had a purity coefficient of 
59.67, and after of 59.79. In the same juice the percentage of albu- 
minoids before treatment was 4.06,* and after treatment 3.63.* 

In most cases the treatment of the diffusion juices gave somewhat 
better results. In nearly all cases the relative amount of anoptose to 
sucrose was diminished, showing that a small portion of it was destroyed 
by the excess of lime. 

In general I may say that this method of treatment succeeds better 
with mill th&n with diffusion juices, and for the obvious reason that the 
former have more impurities that can be removed by lime than theij^ 
latter. 

On account of the seeming importance of this method of purification 
to the future of the industry I will give a detailed account of the method 
of conducting it and of the analyses made in connection therewith. 

* Per 100 of sucrose. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



109 



BEET -SUGAR METHOD BY SINGLE AND DOUBLE CARBONATATION FOE 
THE DEFECATION OF SORGHUM JUICES. 

This inetliod consists .essentially in adding an excess of lime to the 
juice, then removing the excess by a current of carbonic dioxide. In 
the method by double carbonatation a portion of the lime is first added 
in the cold and the excess removed, and then a second and smaller por- 
tion of lime is added, the juice being kept at the boiling point and the 
excess removed as before, the juice remaining neutral or slightly alkaline. 
The proportion of lime employed depends upon the character of the 
juice. A number of experiments has been made to determine that pro- 
portion which gives a good, clear, pure juice, easily filtered at a reason- 
able expense both of time and carbonic dioxide. A large number of 
results indicates that for diffusion juices 2 per cent. CaO, and for mill 
3 per cent. CaO. are the best proportions. 

Table Xo. 1 shows the influence of the lime in raising the coefficient 
of purity. The coefficient of purity of diffusion juice is never increased 
in proportion to that of the mill juice, as it contains much less of those 
substances acted upon by the lime. After the second carbonatation the 
results as to increase and decrease of coefficient of purity were not very 
satisfactory. The lime assumes a combination which prevents its being- 
removed hy the carbonic acid. This will be again referred to in dis- 
cussing the results given under the table. The taste of the juice after 
the first carbonatation resembles that of the sap from the maple tree, 
but after the second it is bitter and unpalatable. The color was brown- 
ish, due to a slight decomposition of the anoptose. This coloration of 
the juice could be avoided on a large scale by rapid carbonatation. It 
is easily bleached- by the use of bisulphite of lime or sulphurous acid. 

Table Xo. 2 gives the proportion of anoptose to the sucrose before and 
after defecation. After the first defecation, i. the defecation in the 
cold, the proportion of anoptose to the sucrose is reduced but little, 
though enough to indicate that it is the cause of the coloring of the juice. 
After the second carbonatation, hot, there is a \ ery marked reduction 
in this proportion. The anoptose has evidently combined with the lime 
forming soluble and insoluble compounds ; the soluble portion giving 
the deep brown coloration, which the juice acquires at the second def- 
ecation and the bitter unpleasant taste. Its remaining in solution also 
accounts for ihe total solids not decreasing in proportion to the amount 
of anoptose decomposed. The experiments made, show that the method 
by double carbonatation would not be a success, practically, with the 
sorghum juice, owing to the large amount of anoptose usually present 
in the juices of this cane. But the method by single carbonatation is 
very successful, inasmuch as the juice is not heated in contact with the 
lime. 

Table Xo. 3. — It is seen from the analyses given in this table that 
the lime has a marked effect on the nitrogenous bodies present in the 



110 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



juice. After the first carbonatation about 33 per cent, of these sub- 
stances have been removed. 

A study of the tables will indicate the advantage which may be ex- 
pected from the application of the lime and carbonic acid method of 
defecation to sorghum juices, with such modifications as the peculiar 
nature of these juices require. 

If the experiment could be made on a large scale, I think the practi- 
cal advantage of the process over any other now in use would be at 
once apparent. 

Table I. — Increase or decrease in coefficient of purity. 
BEFORE DEFECATION. 











6 












6nt 




CO 






>^ 




1 






u 


g 














.5 










'> 




a 


Character of juice. 


a? 
P< 


S 


E3 

OS 


i 


o 


OS 

fcUD 


1 


o § 




X 








4^ 


O 




.2 % 




<£ 


c 


fl 

<» 


1 


a 

<o 






« p. 




O 




o 


o 


u 


'S 


CI 






6 


'u 




% 






u 


o 




)^ 


m 








•Jl 






Diffusion 


1 




4. 72 


1.40 


6.50 


1. 0258 


0. 279 


72. 60 


Do 


2 


69 


4.76 


1. 90 


7. 80 


1. 0309 


0. 389 


61.02 


Do 


3 


85 


5. 52 


2. 32 


8. 80 


1. 0352 


0. 400 


62. 73 


Do 


4 


96 


5. 25 


1. 38 


8. 20 


1. 0327 


0. 578 


64. 02 


Do 


5 


102 


4. 02 


1.63 


6. 80 


1. 0270 


(*) 


59.11 


Mill 


6 


145 


9.64 


3. 29 


15. 50 


1. 0633 


(*) 


62. 19 


Diflfiision 


7 


146 


5. 83 


1. 83 


9. 20 


1. 0369 


C) 


63. 37 


Mill 


8 


154 


9. 21 


3.49 


14. 95 


1.0611 


(*) 


61. 60 




9 


155 


5. 46 


2.41 


9. 15 


1. 0366 


(*) 


59. 67 


Mill 


10 


162 


30. 69 


3. 09 


16.82 


1. 0692 


(*) 


63. 55 




11 


163 


6.81 


2. 22 


10. 95 


1. 0441 


(*) 


62. 19 



* Not determined. 
AFTER FIRST CARBONATATION. 



Character of juice. 


No. of experiment. 


Serial number. 


Per cent, sucrose. 


Per cent- anoptose. 


Percent total solids. 


Specific gravity. 


Per cent, ash. 


Coefficient of purity, 
per cent. 


Per cent. Ca 0, 


Increase or decrease 
in coefficient of 
purity, per cent. 




1 




4. 92 


1. 39 


6. 90 


1. 0274 


0. 357 


71. 30 


3.0 


- 1.30 


Do 


1 




4. 30 


1.51 


7. 20 


1. 0288 


0. 322 


59. 72 


2.0 


-12. 88 


Do 


1 




4.23 


1. 62 


7. 60 


1. 0302 


0. 373 


55. 65 


1.5 


-16. 95 


Do 


2 


69 


4. 92 


1. 80 


7. 35 


1. 0292 


0. 309 


66. 93 


2.0 


+ 5. 91 


Do... 


2 


69 


4.91 


1.87 


7. 70 


1. 0307 


0. 344 


63. 76 


1.5 


+ 2.74 


Do 


3 


85 


5. 20 


2. 01 


8. 10 


1. 0323 


0. 455 


64. 19 


3.0 


+ 1-46 


Do 


3 


85 


4. 83 


I. 68 


8. 10 


1. 0320 


0. 436 


59. 62 


2.0 


- 3.11 


Do 


3 


85 


5. 72 


2. 26 


9. 10 


1. 0365 


0. 423 


63. 40 


1.0 


+ 0.67 


Do 


4 


96 


5. 39 


1.29 


8. 00 


1. 0318 


(*) 


67. 37 


3.0 


-4- 3.35 


Do 


4 


96 


5. 60 


1. 42 


8. 30 


1. 0331 


(*) 


67. 47 


2.0 


+ 3.45 


Do 


4 


96 


5. 92 


1.45 


8. 90 


1. 0355 


(*) 


66. 51 


1.0 


+ 2.49 


Do 


5 


102 


4. 06 


1. 03 


7. 45 


1. 0296 


(*) 


(?) 54. 49 


2.0 


?- 4.62 


Mill 


6 


145 


lost. 


3. 91 


14. 10 


1. 0575 


(*) 




2.0 






7 


146 


5.79 


1.69 


8. 60 


1. 0343 


(*) 


67. 32 


2.0 


-f 3.95 


Mill 


8 


154 


11. 42 


3.31 


16. 52 


1. 0679 


(*) 


69. 12 


3.0 


+ 7.52 




9 


155 


6. 47 


2. 63 


10. 82 


1. 0435 


(*) 


59. 79 


2.0 


+ 0.12 




10 


162 


10. 17 


2. 75 


14. 15 


1. 0.576 


(*) 


71.87 


3.0 


-f 8.32 


Diffusion 


11 


163 


6. 75 


1. 83 


10. 50 


1. 0423 


(*) 


64. 28 


2.0 


+ 2.09 



*Not determined. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. Ill 

Table I. — Increase or decreasi) in caefficieut of purity — Continued. 



AFTER SECOND CARBONATATION. 



Character of juice. 


a 

a 
s 

Ph 

X 

<s 

o 
6 


Serial number. 


Per cent, sucrose. 


Per cent, anoptose. 


Per cent, total solids. 


i 

bc 
o 


Coefficient of purity, 
per cent. 


i Per cent. Ca 0. 


Increase or decrease 
in coefficient of 
purity, per cent. 




1 
2 
3 
4 

5 
















Do 


69 
85 
96 
102 
















Do . 
















Do 
















Do 
















Mill 


6 


145 


8. 90 


1. 60 


14. 22 


1. 0579 


62. 58 


0.5 


+0. 39 




7 


146 


5. 49 


0. 69 


8. 93 


1. 0357 


61. 47 


0.5 


-1. 90 


Mill 


8 


154 


8. 71 


1. 08 


13. 80 


1. 0562 


63.11 


0.5 


-1. 51 




9 


155 


6. 20 


0.98 


11.45 


1. 0462 


54.14 


0.5 


-5. 53 


Mill , 


10 


162 


12. 05 


1. 13 


18. 60 


1. 0769 


64.24 


0.5 


+0.69 


Diflfusion 


11 


163 


6. 56 


0. 58 


11. 10 


1. 0446 


59. 09 


0.5 


-3. 10 



REMARKS. 



Character of juice. 


No. of ex- 
periment, j 


Serial num 
ber. 


Remarks. 




1 




Did not heat to 90° C. as ubual, to decompose 








the hydro-sucro-car-bonate of lime. 


Do 


1 




Do 


1 






Do 


2 


69 


Filtration easy. 


Do 


2 


69 


Do. 


Do 


3 


85 


Do. 


Do 


3 


85 


Do. 


Do 


3 


85 


Filtrate turbid. 


Do 


4 


96 


Filtrate easy. 


Do 


4 


96 


Do. 


Do 


4 


96 


Filtrate turbid. 


Do 


5 


102 


Did not heat to 90° C. 


Mill 


6 


145 


Filtration not easy. 


Diffusion 


7 


146 


Filtration easy. 


Mill 


8 


154 


Do. 


Diffusion 


9 


155 


Do. 


Mill 


10 


162 


Do. 


Diffusion 


11 


163 





Table II. — Increase or decrease in percentage of anoptose. 



BEFORE DEFECATION. 



Character of juice. 


a 

® 

O 

6 


Serial number. 


Per cent, ucrose. 


Per cent, anoptose. 


Anoptose per 100 of 
sucrose. 




1 




4.72 


1. 40 


29. 66 


Do 


2 


69 


4. 76 


1.90 


39. 91 


Do 


3 


85 


5. 52 


2. 32 


42. 02 


Do 


4 


96 


5.25 


L 38 


26. 28 


Do 


5 
6 


102 


4. 02 


1. 63 


40. 54 




145 


9. 64 


3. 29 


34. 12 




7 


146 


5. 83 


L 83 


31. 38 




8 


154 


9.21 


3. 49 


37. 89 




9 


155 


5. 46 


2. 41 


44. 14 


Mill 


10 


162 


10. 69 


3. 09 


28. 90 




11 


163 


6. 81 


2. 22 


32. 59 













112 NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 

Table II. — Increase or decrease in pei'centage 0/ awojpfose— Continued. 



AFTER FIRST CARBONATATION. 

















©«w 

















00 

ee 






a 

s 


© 


jrose 


lopto 


1 


<c © 
f-* hi) 
©J 




Character of juice. 


per 


mb 






® s 


M © «D 

© s 














as ^ 


© £1 Q 








fl 


g 






« S"ti 

ca Pi Pi 
© 








Seria 


Perc 


Per ( 


Anoi 


^ n 9 




I 




4. 92 


1. 39 


28. 25 


— 1. 41 


T)o 




4.30 


1.51 


35. 11 


+5. 45 


Do . . 




1 




4. 23 


1.62 


38. 29 


+8. 63 


Do . . 




2 


69 


4. 92 


1. 80 


36. 38 


—3. 53 


Do 




2 


69 


4.91 


1. 87 


38. 08 


—1.83 


Do 




3 


85 


5. 20 


2. 01 


38. 65 


—3. 37 


Do 




3 


85 


4. 83 


1. 68 


34. 78 


—7.24 


Do 




3 


85 


5. 72 


2. 26 


39. 51 


—2. 51 


Do 




4 


96 


5. 39 


1. 29 


23.93 


— 2, 35 


Do . . . 




4 


96 


5.60 


1. 42 


25. 35 


— 0. 93 


Do ... 




4 


96 


5. 92 


1. 45 


24. 49 


— 1. 79 


Do ... . 




5 


102 


4. 06 


1. 03 


25. 36 


— 15. 18f 


Mill juice .. 




6 


145 


Lost. 


3. 91 






Diffusion 





7 


146 


5. 79 


1.69 


29. 18 


—2. 20 


Mill 




8 


154 


11.42 


3. 31 


28. 98 


-8. 91 






9 


155 


6. 47 


2. 63 


40.64 


—3. 50 


Mill 




10 


162 


10.17 


2. 75 


27. 04 


— 1. 86 






11 


163 


6. 75 


1.83 


27. 11 


—5.48 



AFTER SECOND CARBONATATION. 





























© 





99 






fl 

© 




© 
on 


1 







CS 

© © 




Character of juice. 


a 

i 
P( 


mber. 


sucro 


. anop 


3 per 1 
iroso. 


'^fl . 
p s © 

05 












fl 


i§ 


(S t-l 








fl 

"a 


fl 
© 


© 
© 


Pi 


^ 2 
© 






d 


Seri 


© 


Per 


Ano 


© « 9 




1 












Do 


■ 2 


69 










Do 


3 


85 










Do 


4 


96 










Tin 


5 


102 














6 


145 


8. 90 


1. 60 


19. 03 


—1.5. 09 






7 


146 


5. 49 


0. 69 


12. 56 


—18. 82 


Mill 




8 


154 


8.71 


1.08 


12. 39 


—25. 50 






9 


155 


6. 20 


0. 93 


15. 00 


—29. 14 


Mill 




10 


162 


12. 05 


1.13 


9. 37 


—19. 53 






11 


163 


6.56 


0. 58 


8 84 


—23. 75 



REMARKS. 



Character of juice. 


No. of experiment. 


Serial number. 


• 

Remarks. 








Did not heat to 90° C. to decompose hydrO'SU- 
cre-carbonate of lime ; hence apparent in- 















crease in aiioptose. 


Do 


5 


102 


Did not heat to 90° C. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 

Table III. — Increase or decrease in percentage of albuminoids. 
BEFORE DEFECATIOi^. 



113 



i o 

I ! 



Cliaracter of juice. 



P." 



5 ^ 



Difiusion. 

Mill 

Diffusion. 

Mill 

Diffusion . 

MiU 

Diffusion . 



(S - 



5 o 





o 
a: 






<1 


3 


85 


5. 52 


0.413 


2. 581 


6 


145 


9.64 , 


0. 370 


2. 3U 


7 


146 


5. 83 


0. 813 


5. 081 


8 


154 


9.21 


0. 675 


4. 218 


9 


155 


5. 46 


0. 650 


4. 062 


10 


162 


10. 69 


0. 353 


2. 206 


11 


163 


6. 81 


0. 691 


4.322 



AFTER FIRST CARBOXATATIOX, 



Character of juice. 



a; X 



©v. 

X w 



= c a 

X - — 



Diffusion. 

Do . 

Do . 

Mill 

Diffusion . 

Mill 

Diffusion. 

Mill 

Diffusion . 



< 


"i 










o 




3 


85 


5. 20 


0.315 


3 


85 




0. 360 


3 


85 




0. 375 


6 


145 


Lost. 






146 


5. 79 


0. 519 


8 


154 


11. 42 


0. 485 


9 


155 


6. 47 


0. 579 


10 


162 


10. 17 


0. 438 


n 


163 


6. 75 


0. 557 



-0. 098 1, 968 
-0. 053 2. 251 
-0. 038 2. 348 



-0. 294 
-0. 190 
-0. 071 
-0. 075 
-0. 134 



3. 248 
3. 031 
3. 618 
2. 740 
.3.481 



—0. 613 
—0. 330 
—0. 233 



—1.833 
—1. 187 
—0. 444 

-f 0. 534 
—0. 841 



AFTER SECOND CARBO^fATATIOlST. 



Character of juice. 











eg 






















p 








s 


s s 








^9 


un 






C 

<B S 




ial 1 


cei 


fcJCoc 

2 




















X C 

ci 


irlOO 




* © 


© 

■^©^ 

x-| 


5^ <S X 

III 


^- © - 
c © s 

1 1 1^ 




^ 1 s 


© 











Diffusion 3 

Mill 6 

Diffusion 7 

Mill 8 

Diffusion 9 

Mill 10 

Diffusion 11 



85 
145 
146 
154 
155 
162 
163 













8. 90 


0. 382 


-fO. 012 


•T 


387 




5. 49 


0. 559 


—0. 254 


3! 


494 


-i-0. 246 


8. 71 


0. 547 


—0. 128 


3. 


419 


4-0. 3t8 


6. 20 


0. 585 


—0. 065 


3. 


631 


+ 0. 013 


12. 05 


0. 539 


-0. 186 


3. 


371 


1-1.031 


6. 56 


0. 571 


—0. 120 


3. 


572 


-]-0. 091 



EXTRACTION OF SUGAR FR03I CANE. 

This problem has been discussed iD a special report already pub 
lished.* 



*The Process of Diffusion Applied to Sorghum Cane, Chem. Div. Dept. Ag. Bulle- 
tin, No. 2. 

16435 N s 8 



114 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



A MORE COMPLETE SEPARATION OF THE SUOAR FROM THE MO. 

LASSES. 

My experiments in this direction are just beginning, but I think I can 
outline their scope. 

As is well known, sugar combines with the oxides or hydrates of the 
alkaline earths, viz, barium, strontium, and lime, to form sucrates which 
are insoluble in an aqueous solution of sugar. 

Taking advantage of this principle, beet-sugar chemists have been 
working for several years to secure a separation of the sugar from the 
molasses as a sucrate of one of these bases. I have proposed to do the 
same thing with sorghum molasses, and my experiments are now in pro- 
gress. In the sorghum molasses, however, the problem is a more diffi- 
cult one than with that from beets. 

The invertose and anoptose present in such large quantities are liable 
to be attacked by the base, so that the whole operation has to be con- 
ducted at a low temperature. I cannot yet hazard any prediction as to 
the success with which my experiments may meet. I have already 
gone far enough to corroborate the results lately obtained by the Ger- 
man chemists showing that sucrose can be almost completely precipi- 
tated by lime in the cold. 

I shall continue my work in this direction until I determine the value 
or worthlessness of the lime process in the extraction of sucrose from 
sorghum molasses, and its effects on the other sugars present. 

UTILIZATION OF BY-PRODUCTS. 

The by-products of the sorghum sugar manufacture an?, (l)the seed, 
(2) the blades, (3) the bagasse or diffusion chips, (4) the scums and sub- 
sidence products, (5) the molasses. 

The sorghum plant is a true cereal. The seods have starch, albumen- 
oids, oil, sugar, and fiber in such proportions as render them suitable 
for animal food. The following analyses of the seed, compared with 
those of wheat, corn, and buckwheat, will show the place which the sor- 
ghum holds among the more prominent cereals : 



Tahle of comparative analijses of sorghum seed. 



Cereals. 


Per cent, 
water. 


Per cent, 
ash. 


Per cent, 
fat. 


Per cent, 
nitrogen 
free ex- 
tract. 


Per cont. 
crude 
fiber. 


Per cent, 
albumen- 
oids. 


No. of 
analyses. 




10. 27 


1.84 


2.16 


71. 98 


1. 80 


ll. 95 


260 




10. 04 


1..52 


5. 20 


70. 69 


2. 09 


10. 46 


114 




1.3. 10 


1.80 


3. 60 


70. 80 


2. 00 


8. 70 


*11 




12. 60 


2. 00 


2. 20 


64. 50 


8. 70 


10. 00 


*8 



"^Armsby's Farmers Annual. 



The importance of this by-product will be more apparent when it is 
remembered that for each ton of ripe canes about 125 pounds of seed 
will be produced. 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



115 



From one acre producing 10 tons of cane 1,250 pounds of seed can be 
obtained. 

If this is compared with the average production of wheat and corn, 
the following table results : 

Average number pounds wheat per acre 720 

Average number pounds corn per acre " 1, 456 

Pounds sorghum seed, at 10 tons per acre 1,250 

It thus appears that the custom of many farmers which allows the 
seed to rot on the ground is wasteful in the extreme. In the one item 
of seed alone the sorghum cane possesses a by-product which is more 
valuable than the by-products of all otht^r sugar-producing plants com- 
bined. 

THE BLADES. 

The dried blades of sorghum make an excellent fodder. 

The following analysis, taken from the Agricultural Report of 1879, 
page 57, shows the constitution of sorgum blades after complete dry - 
ing: 

Analyses of sorghum and sugar-corn blades. 



Varieties. 



Sugar corn 

nonduras sor- 
ghum. 
Early Amber 
sorghum . 



380 
1428 



3y9 



116. 
285. 



97.7 



1. 48 
3. 29 



0. 54 

1. 67 



5. 20 
6.67 



7.91 



8.21 ! 
9.37 ; 

8.58 I 



82 



a 



4. 54 i 24. 77 t 11. 34 
2.78 I 21.22 10.43 



12. 65 
11. 98 



20. 83 
18. 51 



14. 49 ! 13. 14 12. 08 ] 17. ' 



10. 44 
14. 08 



15.49 



The above percentages are all given for the dry blades. 

The blades are generally left on the stalks in working on a large 
scale, and hence Sbuy value they may have must be looked for in the 
bagasse or diffusion chips. 

THE BAGASSE AND DIFFUSION CHIPS. 



These still contain nutritive matter, but are mostly cellulose. I 
doubt whether they could be utilized for feeding purposes. When 
dried they make excellent fuel, and the bagasse is used in many places 
for that purpose. 

They also make good bedding for animals, and thus are returned to 
the soil in the form of a good manure. This utilization, I think, is the 
most promising from an e conomical point of view. 

Experiments have also been made with them in the manufacture of 
paper pulp. These have been fairly successful and are deserving of 
further prosecution. 



116 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



THE SCUMS AND SUBSIDENCE PRODUCTS. 



The scums are rich in albuminoids, and with the precipitates, con- 
taining lime, phosphoric acid, &c., make a valuable fertilizer. 

Their composition is shown in the following table, taken from the 
Agricultural Eeport, 1880, page 134. 



Constituents. 



Moisture 

Mineral matter 

Chloropbyl and wax 

Sugars 

Eesins 

Gums 

Albuminoids 

Undetermined 

Crude fiber 

starch isomers 



Lime and 
clay pre- 
cipitate. 



Lime pre- 
cipitate. 



9. 77 
21. 69 
17. 60 
10. 80 
3. 61 
6. 02 
25. 58 
5. 73 
2. 20 
Trace. 



7. 69 
7.00 

8. 95 
43. 96 

3. 26 
n.40 , 

4. 55 
12. 71 

0. 48 
Trace. 



.5. 72 

14. 30 
14.44 

15. 06 
5. 08 

11.10 
8. 05 
5.58 
5.49 

15. 18 



These substances vary greatly in their composition, according to the 
kind of defecation practised. 

The scums and precipitates should be dried by exposure on a cement 
floor to the action of the sun's rays. 

The dry residue is ground to a fine powder and applied like ordinary 
commercial fertilizers. 

MOLASSES. 

There is still another factor in the sorghum problem which must not 
be left without attention. If the production of sugar from sorghum 
should i^rove profitable, it is certain that the industry will rapidly spread, 
and the production of sugar increase until it equals the demand of the 
country. The history of the progress of the beet-sugar industry in 
France and Germany teaches us that this will be the event which is 
certain to occur. When this happens the product of molasses will be 
enormous, far greater than the demand of ordinary consumption will 
dispose of. On account of the large percentage of uncrystallizable srtgar 
which the sorghum juices now contain, the yield of molasses in the man- 
ufacture will be far greater than with the cane of the tropics or the beet 
of the temperate zones. 

As I have already shown, the proportion of uncrystallizable to crys- 
tallizable sugar in the sorghum juice is about one to three. This sugar 
prevents nearly an equal weight of sucrose from crystallizing. 

By the methods in use at the present time a yield in dry sugar of three- 
fifths of the total sucrose present in the juice is an exceedingly gratify- 
ing one. It follow.**, therefore, that the weight of molasses produced 
(including the ^^ater) will remain nearly double that of the sugar in the 
most favorable of the present circumstances. It is idle to suppose that 
such quantities of molasses can find their use for culinary and table 
purposes. The oidy remaining uses to which the molasses can be put 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



117 



are food for auiuials aod distillation. There is little doubt but that the 
conversion of the sugars in the molasses into alcohol will prove far more 
profitable than feeding them to stock. 

A much greater increase in sorghum production throughout the 
country will result in the use of molasses on a large scale as a source 
of alcohol and rum. 

PRODUCTION OF ALCOHOL. 

1 will give an illustration to show the theoretical yield of alcohol in 
order to furnish, data for calculations of the yield on a large scale. 

Molasses, after the second or third crystallization, contains about 32 
per cent, each of sucrose and non-sucrose, in all 64 per cent of ferment- 
able matter. 

Under favorable conditions the sugar present will yield 40 per cent, 
of its weight as alcohol, or 25 per cent, of the. weight of molasses- 
One gallon of molasses, therefore, weighing 11 pounds, would give 2.75 
pounds absolute alcohol and 3.03 pounds 90 per cent, alcohol. Thus 
each gallon of molasses would give nearly half a gallon of commercial 
alcohol. 

Alcohol can also be obtained from the juice of the cane, as the fol- 
lowing experiment in fermentation will show: 

FERMENTATION OF THE JUICE. 

One-half car of sorghum juice, defecated by heat alone, was pitched 
on October 1 with 10 cakes Gaff, Fleischmann & Oo.'s pressed yeast 
and placed in crystallizing room at 40^ 0. The next day there was a 
slight fermentation, and the juice had become very acid. The temper- 
ature was evidently too high. On October 3 there was a partial blanket 
of yeast, which, on the next day, was complete, with a violent fermenta- 
tion ; temperature, 33^ density, 9^ B. On October 6 the fermenta- 
tion had apparently ceased, the car was removed, and the contents dis- 
tilled. The liquid contained still 4 per cent, of glucose and nearly 1 
per cent, of acid. The distilled liquor varied from 20 to 3 per cent, of 
alcohol. It was redistilled, treated with bone-black and lime, and fur- 
nished 4^ litres of alcohol, sp. gr. .9477, 23^ 0., and 3^ litres .9855, 
230 C. 

The original juice amounted to 21 gallons, or 80 litres, from which 
about 1.8 litres of absolute alcohol was obtained, or 2.05 per cent., and 
this under very unfavorable circumstances of fermentation and distilla- 
tion. The original juice, it may be added, contained about 13 per cent, 
of total sugars, which would yield theoretically 5.5 per cent, of the 
weight of juice in alcohol or 4.4 litres. The yield was therefore less 
than half of theory. 

I hope that by means of barium, strontium, or lime the contents of 
sucrose in sorghum molasses may be greatly reduced, but from the na- 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



tare of the plant there will always be a large production of molasses 
even if the sucrose be entirely separated. 

The distillery and sugar factory will naturally fall together when the 
industry grows to a sufficient magnitude, as they have already done in 
Europe.* 

I am led to believe, from a careful study of the preceding investiga- 
tions, that the northern sugar industry is yet far from being established 
on a basis of economic success. Of the two chief sources of northern 
sugar the beet appears to have the advantage over the sorghum plant, 
and I shall not be surprised to find its successful culture inaugurated 
in localities suitable to its growth before all the conditions upon which 
profitable sorghum-sugar growing depends shall have been established. 
It is not to be inferred that any partiality has been shown sorghum in 
the investigations which I now transmit to you, because nearly the 
whole of the matter is derived from researches on the sorghum plant. 
This has arisen because the division of which I have charge was espe- 
ciallj^ engaged in the line of research, and from the fact that the con- 
ditions which afford success to beet culture and sugar manufacture 
have already been well established by European investigations, while 
many of the chief problems connected with sorghum culture are still 
almost untouched. 

* Since the alcoliol made from molasses is scarcely suitable for a beverage, but is fit 
only for use in the arts, it would prove a great encouragement to the sorghum and 
sugar beat industries to allow its distillation free of tax. 



ISOTHERMAL CHARTS. 

The following charts have been prepared for this report by the Sig- 
nal Of&ce of the U. S. Army. I desire to thank General Hazen and his 
assistants for the valuable services they have so freely given. 

First are given charts of the mean temperature of the several months 
from March to l^ovember. Isotherms, which promise to be of peculiar 
interest in the sorghum industry, are marked in heavier lines. The 
careful student of the sugar industry will be struck with the irregularity 
of these lines, and especially as they approach the Pacific coast. 

The great deflection southward, caused by the Eastern mountain 
ranges, will also be carefully noted. 

Following the charts for the several months is found one which gives 
the mean summer temperature for the three months of June, July, and 
August. By almost unanimous consent, those who are interested in 
sorghum as a sugar-producing plant have assigned the isotherm of 70° 
F. for the summer as the northern limit of successful sorghum culture, 
while the growers of the sugar-beet look for their greatest success north 
of that line. The track of this line, therefore, across the continent will 
be traced with interest. It will be seen that the great corn-producing 
regions of the Northwest lie almost wholly south of this line. Its direc- 
tion from West Virginia due north almost to Buffalo is a very striking 
peculiarity of its course. In most seasons sorghum in some of its varie- 
ties can be grown to maturity south of this isotherm. 

While the isotherm of 70^ for the summer months is of greatest in- 
terest to sorghum growers, the manufacturer will devote more atten- 
tion to the lines of 65^ for September and 55° for October. The season 
for manufacture must include these two months, and perhaps also ^To- 
vember. The most important line on the November chart is that of IQo. 

I should have added one more chart, viz, one showing the mean posi- 
tion of a line constructed from the isotherms of 65 ^ for September, 55° 
for October, and 40^ for November. Such a mean line, in my opinion, 
would mark out very nearly the northern limit of successful manufacture 
of sugar from sorghum. Any one interested can get a good idea of the 
position of this line by studying together the three charts above men- 
tioned. 

No attempt has been made in these charts to introduce the question 
of rainfall. East of Kansas this is not one of great importance. Over 
limited areas of the corn-producing region the crops are often injured 



2 



hy drought. But generally a sufficient rainfall can be expected for the 
needs of a plant as hardy as sorghum. 

West of central Kansas the question of rainfall is as important as 
that of temperature. Irrigation is already showing its value in the arid 
regions of the West, and there are many reasons for expecting to see 
areas now almost bare of vegetation become valuable sugar plantations 
under its influence. 

A more extended description of the charts is not necessary. Their 
value will be found chiefly in the method of study by which they are 
interpreted. Tliis method will depend largely on the local circum- 
stances of the sugar grower and manufacturer. 




JULIUS BIEN 8, CO. LITH 




JULIUS SiEN & CO. LITH 



1 

i 



I 




-i 



JULIUS BIEN & CO. LITH, 



an Temperature. ^Tay 1{?70 




i 



Mean TcmixM-al inc. .Inly KS7() a'l. 





JULIUS eiEN & CO. LITH 



07" 62° 




JULIUS BIEN 8r CO. LITH 



Mean 'IVunpernt lire . SeptemVier 1870-84 




I 



i 

i 



I 



I B '07 




